Akame ga Kill: The Lost Sister
by Aisu137
Summary: AU! Electric blue eyes narrowed dangerously, "Make no mistake Akame. While part of me is happy you survived. The larger part of me wants to kill you here and now. Finish off what should've happened seven years ago. Spare Akiko from having to dirty herself by covering her hands with the blood of a pathetic coward."
1. Kill the Greatest Tragedy

A long time ago, there was a family of three. It was a happy family, the man of the family was a proud father and husband to two beautiful women. The woman was a loving mother and wife to two stubborn beloveds. The daughter was prideful and calculating, impressive considering her tender age of three. She had inherited the pride of her father and the calculating cause of her mother. The three lived in a fancy house in a fancy town that knew nothing of starving. They were left alone by the Empire, as the Empire feared their influence and wealth.

All the people of this village were wealthy for different reasons, but mostly because they made weapons. They had long hunted dangerous beasts and crafted weapons from their claws or hides. The family of three were fond of crafting dangerous blades and fearsome armors. The wife preferred to craft the deadly swords while her husband crafted armor. However, they would always scrap their creations, claiming them not to be as... effective as they used to be. The daughter was always confused as she loved the things her parents made.

One chilly November, the wife announced to her husband that she was with child once again. The man jumped in excitement and picked his wife up and spun her around. He immediately declared that he must share this with his family, his little sister and brother, as well as the rest of the village. The wife smiled in amusement, her husband was really a child at heart. That night the village celebrated the joyous occasion as having more than one child was rare. Many gifts were given that night in preparation of the birth. Warm blankets had been made and dolls were crafted as well as clothes. The family thanked all for the gifts, the daughter delighted in the dolls claiming that her new sibling would not be able to play with them for awhile.

The village had laughed at that and the proud father ruffled his daughter's black hair, so similar to his own. There was so much happiness, and as the pregnancy progressed that happiness continued to grow. But unfortunately, all good things must come to an end. One fateful July, everything that the daughter knew had changed.

"My lord, you have been blessed with two daughters!" The midwife cried in gladness as she walked outside of birthing room. The man just outside the door was pacing back and forth. A child of about three or four watched with confusion as her father paced on the rich, warm carpets.

"Two?" the man asked in awe, one child was blessing enough, but two was a miracle. After all, many children were stillborn.

The young child looked up at the midwife in wonderment, "I have two little sisters to play with?"

"Yes, little Red, you do." The midwife replied in excitement, she turned around and headed back into the birthing room, gesturing for the anxious father and curious daughter to follow.

A woman with dark hair and identical red eyes to the child laid on the bed in the center of the room, obviously exhausted, "My love," she whispered, her voice horse, "I have named the first, as we planned to. But the younger one, has no name." The midwife quickly passed over one child to the father, one with eyes like his own.

The man looked down at his wife. Her complexion pale and her hair slick with sweat, her red eyes brimming with exhaustion and happiness. A small bundle laid in her arms, the eyes were open and were a sparkling silver. To him, she had never looked so beautiful, "Whatever you desire, beloved."

"I considered Ginme, but, it does not seem fitting." The man nodded in agreement, "But I have always loved autumn.."

The man smiled in remembrance, they had met in one autumn and married a few autumns later, "Whatever you desire," the man repeated.

The woman considered the bundle of strange silver, "Akiko, our little daughter of autumn."

The man grinned broadly, "Akiko it is." The man glanced over at his eldest daughter who had been hanging by the door, unsure of herself, "Little Red, come here, meet your new sisters."

The child walked towards the bed and nearly jumped on it in excitement if the midwife did not hold her back foreseeing her actions. The midwife picked up the child and carefully placed her at the foot of the bed, mumbling lightly about irresponsible children. The child crawled up next to her mother, in between where her mother was and her father. The curled into her mother instinctively and pressed her head into her mother's shoulder. Little Red quivered, the silver eyes meeting her own red. She cocked her head to the side, and then up at her father who was completely absorbed in the bundle in his arms.

 _You're small,_ Little Red thought, _I'm going to try to be the best big sister to you both that I can._

"Haru," the midwife perked up at the mention of her name, "Please take the children and leave us." The woman was panting now, the hands carrying the baby trembling. Haru rushed forward and shooed Little Red out and carefully grabbed the small bundles from both parents. She glanced back at the woman on the bed who gave Haru a reassuring glance. She carefully scurried out of the room into the hallway. The midwife gestured to a nearby guardsman and instruct him to take one of the babies. In silence, the five of them waited.

"Tsuki, is there something wrong?" the man asked once they were alone.

The red eyed woman smiled sadly, "Shinrin, I was dying before the twins were born, this you know. Them being born has drained what life was left of me."

Shinrin's black eyes widened in horror, he desperately reached out and clasped his beloved's ice-cold hand in his own warm one. He placed the hand on his cheek, "You can't die." He said stubbornly, "I can't lose you."

"You won't," was the simple reply, "You have me in our children. You have given me everything and more."

"There must be something I can do," Shinrin protested again, "If you are tired, I can, with your permission, make so you are never required to do anything again. Your duties to the village are gone." He took a deep breath, "Please."

His eyes were pleading and it broke Tsuki's heart in a million pieces, "My love," she whispered, "Do not make this any harder then it has to be."

"It does have to be hard at all!"

Shinrin felt the familiar calculating gaze of his wife's red eyes. Tsuki stared at Shinrin's handsome face, the chiseled jaw and the beginnings of a beard. She memorized his wrinkles and contours of his face. She moved her hand that Shinrin had pressed to his face, left towards his nose and then down to his lips. She carefully leaned forward toward her husband and placed her own lips to his one last time.

Tsuki pulled back and leaned against the satin pillows, "I love you, it's not their fault." Tsuki allowed her body to relax and her last breath to leave his body quietly.

"No!" Shinrin cried in anguish. He pressed to fingers to Tsuki's neck feeling desperately for a pulse. He lowered his hair towards her chest, trying to feel one through her skin or hear the intake of air. "You can't die!" He shouted brokenly, "Please. I beg of you." She was gone.

The midwife, hearing the cries of anguish rushed into the room, quickly giving the child she was holding to the guard, and rushed into the room. Haru nearly collapsed when she saw her beloved mistress. She weakly walked up to Shinrin and wrapped her arms around him, offering her shoulder to him. He accepted immediately and let out silent sobs. Haru also cried, her body spasmed as she tried to stop. She carefully tugged him outside the room. She made sure that Little Red was unable to see into the room and quickly instructed two guards to clean up the birthing room. She helped Shinrin sit down on the expensive carpets and lean against the wall. Little Red looked up at her proud father staring at floor, his gaze unfocused.

"Papa?" came the timid voice, "What's wrong?"

Shinrin looked up from the ground and stared at Little Red and flinched. He no longer saw his daughter but his newly departed wife, the similarities were so similar that it hurt to look at the child. He glanced up at the midwife and growled, "Leave us."

Haru the midwife hesitated, "My lord-"

"Leave us!" Shinrin snarled, anger pouring into his veins. Haru curtsied to the best of her abilities and left the room.

"Your mother is dead, Akame." Shinrin said his voice void of any emotion, "She's dead Little Red."

"What is dead?" Akame or Little Red asked, eyes wide.

Shinrin looked up again, "She's not coming back. She went to sleep, and now she's not coming back."

The four year old cocked her head to the left in confusion, before she asked, "Can we wake her up?"

"No, no we can't."

"Oh," came a small voice.

Akame walked up to her father and attempted to crawl into lap, like she used to, but was surprised to find that her father had stood up and had walked out of the empty hallway. Akame looked up at her father's figure, getting ever so smaller before it disappeared. This left Akame and her new baby sisters alone with the two guards holding them.

-o-

Following the death of Tsuki, everything changed. Her father was distant at best. He tended to lock himself up in his chambers, long since abandoning the chambers he used to share with his wife. He had taken to drinking large quantities of alcohol. He grew depressed, he no longer saw the joy in life. He did not see that his eldest daughter had matured in the years, growing to look just like her mother. Akame had tried to keep her promise to her sisters, to protect them. And as soon as the twins were able to make coherent sentences, their was an unwritten rule. Never anger their father. Most of the staff had started to avoid their lord. They still sent food to his room, but left shortly after. When he bathed, they did their best to clean his room, as he did not want to see any of them other than when they brought him food.

The twins were four and Akame eight at the time of the incident. Akame and Kurome were playing too loudly and far too closely to their father's chambers then they realized. Akame did something clever to make Kurome scream with laughter and giggles. They were making a ruckus, but the staff of the house had also figured that Shinrin, in his grief, would never harm any of his children. They were wrong. Akiko, always the serious one, had heard them from the other side of the large house and had started, as fast as her small legs would allow her, to head over to the sound of the laughter.

"Akame, Kurome, be quiet," Akiko snapped when she found her sisters.

"Come on Akiko, have some fun!" Kurome cried between laughs.

"No."

"Akiko, look," Akame started, "We kn-"

"What are you three doing making so much noise?" was a cold voice, "You have disrupted me." The three sisters looked up towards the sound of the voice to find their father standing up above them.

"Father," Akame greeted surprised, this was the first time she had seen her father in over three years.

"This is our papa?" Kurome whisper asked to beloved older sister. This was the first time she had met him, officially. Akame shushed her quickly.

"Can we help you with something?" Akame asked, ever the diplomat.

Shinrin narrowed his eyes at Akame for a moment. Her black hair was long and her red eyes reminded him oh so acutely of Tsuki. He glanced towards Kurome, her black eyes and hair reminded him so closely to his little sister. He hesitated once more, almost letting them off the hook when he saw his youngest daughter, Akiko. Her bright silver eyes reminded him of no one.

"Akame, Kurome, go play elsewhere. Bother someone else," Shinrin growled shooing off the two. Akiko moved to follow the two before he grabbed her left wrist harshly.

"Papa?" She whispered, tears threatening to roll down her face. Her silver eyes wide in shock and fear.

"You killed her, my Tsuki. This is all your fault," Shinrin whispered hoarsely. From within the folds of his clothes, Shinrin pulled a knife out, "I cannot hurt Kurome, as it would be like hurting my little sister since they look so similar. Punishing Akame would be punishing my wife. It would tarnish her memory. But you, your eyes are strange. I will not feel bad."

Akiko unable to comprehend what was happening tried to escape, but was quickly grabbed. One slash of the knife removed Akiko of her shirt. Shinrin trailed the knife around Akiko's chest, not quite drawing blood. He was a warrior, like the others, he knew what to hit and how deep for something to be vital.

He punctured the skin of Akiko's chest quickly slashing. The resulting cut was the length of the feather of a dove. Another gash appeared lower over Akiko's stomach, easily piercing the organ, but not quite killing her or causing internal bleeding. Another gash appeared down the length of Akiko's chest, mirroring the spine of her back. It did not pierce any organs. Shinrin spun the knife in his hand easily and placed the knife above Akiko's right eye, on her forehead. He slid the knife down, once against digging into the skin, he sliced their the wide silver eye and marred Akiko's face. The knife traveled down the length of Akiko's throat and down her chest. It ended just above her hip.

Akiko's cries of agony and pain echoed down the hallway. Akame and Kurome had rushed to find some sort of adult in what was deemed the "safe part of the house". Akame and Kurome ran into a few guards and the midwife that helped to deliver the twins.

"Akiko's in trouble!" Akame cried, "Father got her."

Almost instantly there was a reaction, the midwife ran down the hallway flanked by two or three guards finding Shinrin standing over Akiko's bloody body. The silver-eyed child had long since passed out from pain. The guards quickly apprehended Shinrin and threw him into his room, guarding the doors. He would be dealt with later.

Akiko lay on the floor, the carpet around her stained with blood. Her eye damaged beyond repair. A majority of her chest was nothing but blood, very little skin remained. Despite all her injuries, Akiko's chest was faintly rising and falling. The midwife dropped to her knees, one of the guards had already left to get someone to help.

She tenderly picked the small child up and headed to the nearest empty room with a bed. She laid the child on the bed and waited, making sure Akiko's head was propped up. She instructed the guards not to allow either Akame or Kurome into the room, only the doctor was allowed inside. A doctor walked into the room about fifteen minutes later, and gasped in horror. He rolled out medical supplies, and started to bandage Akiko's injuries. Many of which were unable to be stitched closed as there wasn't much skin to begin with.

"I cannot do too much," the doctor said sadly, "If she makes it through this night, there is a larger chance that she will live. Her bindings must be changed every three or four hours. I was able to stitch up the majority of the injury on her face and her neck, but her chest is a complete mess. I am amazed she has survived this long."

The midwife thanked him profusely, and escorted him out. She closed the door and leaned her back against it. Akame and Kurome jumped up from their positions when they heard him leave and ran to the room they knew their sister to be in.

"Will she be alright?" Akame asked through the closed door to Haru leaned against it.

Haru stared at the bed Akiko laid in and hesitated before truthfully replying, "I don't know."

-o-

It had taken Akiko two years to be able to move without stitches and to completely heal, for the most part. She had lost all sight in her right eye and there were many internal organs that were beyond repair, but were still functioning to an extent. Four years since the incident and the midwife that had cared for them all as children, had passed away during one particularly harsh winter. After that, the house completely fell apart. Many of the guards were getting there in their age, and had politely left the house.

Akame's twelve years had matured her, particularly since the midwife had passed. Akame was now solely in charge for the safety of her sisters. She was in-charge of cooking all the meals, though the twins agreed to go shopping with her. Akame learned how to survive on nothing. She had bargained much of her childhood for the protection of her sisters. Ever since Akiko was injured, Akame had changed. She no longer played with either twin, though she made sure they went to school. She would help them with their homework, and made sure they went to bed on time. They each had a job around the house. Akame would cook, as mentioned earlier. Kurome and Akiko would clean. Then as a trio, they would make sure to keep up appearances. Akame realized that life was never about living, only surviving. Akiko's injuries taught her and reminded her of that everyday.

The three sisters had agreed to put food outside of their father's door, and would only take it out after they were sure he bathed, and Akame always did it. Kurome and Akiko had just celebrated their eighth birthday and were outside playing with the other children. Akame was about to join them when her father's voice stopped her.

"Akame, you must grab Kurome and come with me now."

"Why?" Akame asked, the knife she was cleaning was kept hidden just in case.

"I have a trip planned for the three of us."

"And if we don't come?"

"I will finish what I started with Akiko."

Akame stared into familiar black eyes, for they were the same as Kurome's, "Okay."

Akame went outside and cleverly asked Kurome to help her clean up from the party. Kurome protested for a few seconds, but Akame's glare was harsh and caused reluctant compliance. The father and his two daughters went through the back exit and traveled for about an hour. At this point, Akiko was concerned, where were they? Akiko had explored the house, making sure to bring an adult or two with her. She checked the entire empty house.

When the two daughters had reached a nearby village, they were led to an inn. There sitting at a wooden table were two men. They were willing to buy children. Akame eyes widened and met Kurome's.

After several days of searching, Shinrin returned. He said that he had taken Kurome out for her birthday. Akame had insisted on coming as he had missed several of her own birthdays. On the way back, they were attacked by the Revolutionary Army and Akame and Kurome were killed. Shinrin had made everything look right, he had cuts on his face and his clothes were ripped. Yet Akiko saw through his lies. However nothing could change what would happen and Akiko would not see her sisters again for nearly seven years.

* * *

Honestly, this has just been something rolling through my head. I promise, I will update my other story. Eventually. I promise. Until then... here we go. Let me know what you think.


	2. Kill the Greatest Reward

The youngest of the three sisters grew up in a big house alone. Her father's younger sister did move in and take care of her, but it wasn't the same. Akiko spent her days wandering the halls, learning about the different super weapons the village had made, exploring just inside the borders.

As she grew up, she learned that in great tragedy comes great reward. Her father's sister, Koharu, had tended to her, but she was too familiar to Akiko. While the pair were pleasant with each other, Koharu reminded Akiko too keenly of her twin. Akiko preferred to drag Koharu's son into her mischief. Together they had learned the family craft, learned how to hunt and how to cook. They learned how to rely on each other for anything at anytime.

When her cousin had started to show interest in women, she had become his wingman. She had helped him land his first kiss with the girl he liked and later helped him plan a romantic date. In turn, he sparred with her constantly. He was not much of a fighter, preferring stealth, but to see the smile and relaxation on his cousin's face during the moments that they sparred were worth every bruise and scratch he received.

Akiko had also developed a desire to explore places. She had explored everything within the borders to her heart's content. Nothing unusual ever happened. The people of the town were peaceful and serene, no one left often and no one came. Outsiders were not allowed, and due to the village's wealth, they remained a mostly separate entity from the Empire. They were never drafted and if they broke a law in the Capital (in the rare event someone left), it was swept under the rug. The town and its residents had too much to contribute to society to be executed. The village was well aware of the corruption in the Empire, yet it was outside their borders. They did not care. No one left and no one visited.

When she was not exploring or learning or causing mischief, she was training. While many of her village preferred two handed swords, Akiko's heart rested in her hunting knives. The knives were about the length of a man's forearm each and the metal was made out of fine sharpened silver. The hilts were pretty basic, in the sense that there were no gems or writing adorning it. The hilt was made of simple wood that curved with her hand indicating that is custom-made. Akiko had wrapped black wrappings around the wood. At the cap of the hilt was a bit of rounded metal that blended into the wood. This was in case wanted to hit her opponent with the hilt of the knife. Akiko usually had these knives strapped to her back in thin black sheathes in an angular fashion so her hair wouldn't get in the way.

She wore a pair of comfortable loose fitting cargo trousers that had several pockets that could hold small bits of food, first-aid, and other necessities. She wore a dark grey t-shirt and a dark blue jacket with a hood over it. Her black hair had grown out of the years and she had it tied together in a low hanging pony tail.

Akiko cocked her head at her opponent. They both wielded weapons from their families' vaults, Akiko was not wielding her usual weapons. Akiko drew the strange gold katana and got into the ready position. Her opponent grinned and activated his own belt-like weapon instantly covering him in scales and giving him scaly hands and claws. He glanced down at his body, he had turned green to match the grass they were on.

"Are the fighters ready?" the referee called from the outskirts of the battle, behind him a small crowd.

Akiko nodded her head and the boy she was facing did as well. With that the referee started the fight and both fighters rushed at each other. Akiko knew that while minor injuries were encouraged, major ones were not. She was at a disadvantage. The boy slid under her first strike and moved to punch her only to find himself blocked by the flat part of the katana blade. He paused and remembered Akiko's weakness, he grinned inwardly and moved to strike her from the right side. He prepared his claws and was about to strike when he realized his horrible mistake. Akiko had long learned that people would try to extort her flaw, and she had the perfect counter. Looking straight at them with her left eye.

It Akiko's turn to grin she blocked the claws aimed for her face and rushed forward. She activated the katana's ability, Summers' Glare and a harsh light erupted from the sword, instantly blinding her opponent. While everyone else was blinded, she was not. She watched as the boy held up his hands to cover his eyes leaving him completely open.

She thrusted the hilt of her katana into the boy's open stomach. The hilt to the stomach had some effected as the boy immediately clutched his stomach but was unfortunately blinded temporarily in the process. Akiko swerved behind the boy and gave him a solid kick in the lower part of his back, directly on the spine causing him to lurch forward. Before he could even register the pain in his back, Akiko held her golden katana to his throat, drawing a bit of blood to indicate she could kill him easily. She ended her sword's harsh light and the boy sighed and deactivated his own weapon.

The crowd was stunned. Akiko had taken out her opponent without receiving a single scratch. She had, unfortunately, passed the test.

"I surrender, again," the boy said in faux annoyance.

"Always a pleasure, Kenta," Akiko said in response her silver eyes flashing in amusement.

Kenta all of a sudden groaned, "You're going to leave your favorite cousin here all by himself."

Akiko smiled and looked at the seventeen year old, "Of course," she glanced at his mussed dark blue hair and sparkling blue eyes, before wrinkling her nose in disgust, "Why would I stick around when I can be free of your smell?"

"My smell?!"

"You stink," came the reply.

"I do not!"

"Yes, yes you do. Might I recommend a very long bath with some of your mom's lavender bath salts?"

Kenta stared at his younger cousin, "Let's just go over to that crowd and you can leave. Now that you mention it, I'm getting pretty sick of you being here."

"You'll miss me," Akiko said simply.

Kenta laughed and wrapped his left arm around Akiko's shoulders as they walked towards the awaiting crowd, "That I will little one, that I will."

-o-

"Tomorrow, Akiko leaves us!" The village Elder shouted, "Tonight we will throw a feast in her honor!"

Every person of every age was in the village center sitting at long tables with food laden on them.

"We wish you the best of luck, Akiko," the Elder said to Akiko, his voice echoing in the hall. He raised a stone goblet to Akiko in a toast, "May your swords ever be sharp and your armor always sturdy."

Akiko raised her own glass and drank to the toast, the rest of the hall doing so as well, "Thank you, Shou. Let's not waste anymore time," Akiko said with equal happiness as the rest of the hall, "Tonight is my last night amongst you, let's make it a happy one, together. Please, eat."

At her word, the hall filled with conversation and laughter. Food was placed on individual plates. Akiko sat down on the left side of the Shou the Elder as she was the guest of honor.

She glanced with her good eye around the table, looking for something to eat. Spotting a bowl of dumplings she used her chopsticks and grabbed one or two of them and then placed a bit of rice and danger beast meat on her plate. As she began to eat herself, she thought about what she was going to see. She thought of who she would be free of.

The incident involving her eye, was passed off as an accident by Shinrin. He had threatened the entire village that unless it would remain that way, he would kill everyone child they possessed. Everyone was afraid of him. He had made so many famous weapons and was one of their best warriors. When Akame and Kurome were supposedly presumed dead, there was no funeral for them, no remembrance. Many families pretended as if the two had never existed. Akiko's birthday was still celebrated, but she often took her cousin Kenta and hid somewhere in the village.

Akiko sighed, and looked to her left where her cousin was sitting, "Are you sure you don't wish to come with me? You wouldn't have to take the test."

"I desire to go with you," Kenta admitted, "But my place is here with our people."

"It's so boring here!" Akiko complained, "Surely you'd come just to get out here."

Kenta nodded in agreement, "I am bored here, and I expect that when you're gone I will continue to be bored."

"Then surely you will agree to come."

Kenta shook his head, "I believe I have met someone.

"You, met a different girl? You're willing to break up with your current girlfriend?" Akiko said amused, "Bullshit."

"Hey! It could happen!" Kenta exclaimed offended, "And that's not what I meant!"

Akiko raised a single eyebrow, "Then pray tell, cousin."

"My father said I could keep that weapon-"

"All the more reason to come, you have your weird lizard thing and I have my knives. It could work!"

"My answer-"

"Should be yes," came Shou's calm voice.

"Sir?"

"My apologies, dear Kenta," Shou had been listening to the pair argue for some time and as always it was enjoyable, "You should go."

"Yes!" Akiko cheered, "Your mom would say that you should come with me."

"Let me sleep on it."

-o-

Akiko rose early, planning to slip out unnoticed by the village. She grabbed her gear and made sure to grab the pack she had prepared previously containing spare clothes, a cleaning kit for her knives, first aid, a bedroll. She headed down to the kitchen only to find a plate of eggs and coffee laid out for her. Next to it was a box. Akiko stared at the box for a few moments before devouring her eggs.

"Finally," A voice called Akiko turned around to see her cousin leaning in the doorway to the other side of the house, "I thought you'd never show."

"Hahaha," Akiko said, "Very funny."

"I.. This is a suicide mission Akiko," Kenta said, "You need to understand that. You don't know if they're alive or dead."

Akiko clenched her jaw, "I don't care, I have to try. You wouldn't understand."

Kenta scoffed and walked towards where Akiko was sitting. He pulled up a chair next to her and wrapped an arm around her, "Yeah, I do. I can't watch my little sister walk off to get herself killed without a bit of stealth on her side."

"You're coming?"

Kenta hesitated, "Depends."

"On?"

Kenta said nothing but moved the small box towards. It wasn't very fancy, it had been recently cleaned so one could assume no one had touched it in years, "It's from Mom and Dad, they wish you the best of luck and ask that we bring them back as soon as possible."

"What is it?"

"Remember Akiko, the first impression always counts."

Akiko steeled herself, they had given her a legendary weapon, which one she did not know. Akiko opened the box to reveal a beautiful ring. The band was made of slim cords of pure silver all braided together. The top of the ring was set with a beautiful ruby. The ruby sparkled in the candle light of the table. Akiko braced herself for rejection and slid the ring onto her left index finger. The band automatically glowed and shrunk to her size, indicating a perfect fit. It was tight, and unlikely to fall off.

"This is Hell's Fire: Inferno" Koharu said entering the room, her husband not far behind. Surprisingly enough, Akiko's father strode out behind the two, "It's a very accepting and loyal ring. We'll let you figure out what is does, and because it's so accepting, it is unlikely it will offended if you use some of your mother's ancestors' weapons."

The men were carrying two identical boxes. They were each about four feet long and were black. The sleek boxes were placed on the table, Akiko open the first box to reveal a pitch black katana. The hilt was silver and was shaped like the sign for infinity. The handle was the blade but wrapped in many layers of black leather and cloth to serve as protection.

Shinrin spoke, his voice soft with acceptance, "I know you hate me, and you should. I am still angry, and it is only under the threat of death by my sister am I here now, but nevertheless, I present to you the sword you beat my nephew with."

This katana was made of a golden metal and laced with etchings towards the hilt of the blade. The hilt of the blade was a open circle, showing off part of the blade.

"What we did not tell you was that your weapons you bear now were made for you," Koharu said, "I forged the ring two months ago when I realized you wanted to leave. Kenta, your father made you that belt and was intending to give it to you for your eighteenth birthday anyway. We cannot go with you, but we will do our best to protect you. Akiko, you will chose one of these katanas. My son will receive the other."

Akiko stared at the weapons in front of her. The one of the left with it's deadly combination of black and silver was something Akiko looked forward to using, "I'll take the black one."

"Excellent choice." Akiko grabbed the sword by the handle and founding a black sheath underneath it. She gave it a few experimental swings. She could feel the weapon hum in her hands, the ring on her left hand glowed brighter as if excited by its new friend. She glanced at the handle of the sword to find the name of the blade, "Kage no Guntai," she whispered, "Master of Darkness: Shadow's Army."

"These two were never given to the Empire. They could no longer pay us, we no longer gave them weapons. As a result, we do not know what they are like in temperament," Kenta's father warned, "Nevertheless, we will give them to you in hopes they will protect you better. They will protect you better. Akiko, you did use the blade Kenta is using for a few moments, teach him what you felt, Farewell."

With that the adults left the teenagers to the empty kitchen. Alone. Akiko fell back into her seat, as Kenta did likewise. They both stared at the swords in awe and fear, "What's yours called?" Akiko asked finally breaking the silence.

"You never looked?"

"Didn't need to, nor did I have time. Too busy beating you, remember?" Akiko teased.

Kenta laughed before his brow furrowed as he read the inscription on the sword, "Ten Thousand Suns: Golden Katana"

"Happy."

"Master of Darkness: Shadow's Army?"

Akiko nodded and quickly stood, sheathing the sword, "We need to leave, we're burning daylight. I want to get halfway to the Empire by nightfall. We'll experiment with our new weapons on the way."

"Sure, just assume I'm packed."

"Aren't you?" Akiko asked, raising an eyebrow.

Kenta moaned in despair, "You could give me _some_ credit!"

"Not on your life," Akiko intoned.

Kenta grinned at the familiarity of their arguments and lifted his forest green shirt up a little bit to reveal the lizard belt. He reached down to the floor and pulled out his own pack, ready for the long journey. Akiko nodded and lifted her own pack and swung it on her shoulder. She made sure the knives on her back were comfortable before she glanced at Kenta. She extended her right fist that was holding Shadow's Army to her side and he raised his left that was holding the Golden Blade of Ten Thousand Suns. They bumped them together, the sword sheathes bumped together making a satisfying sound.

* * *

Wow, I am astounded by the support I am getting on this story. Four reviews on the first chapter. For such a small community (relatively) that's pretty big! Anyway, here's the next installment, and hopefully it'll be as promising as the last chapter. Also, I'm looking for a beta reader as I have a tendency to not do a good job at proof-reading, it'd be good to get a pair of fresh eyes.

Also, duel-welding Teigus is just something I want to try out for now. Especially since the idea is flexible in the sense that these two had the Teigus made for them. Which means, in theory, the Teigus will put less of a strain on a person. Also, in the manga, just released, Wave might duel wield Teigus.

Speaking of Teigus, what do you think of the four I made up? I'll get into detail about them later, but just let me know what you think. Guesses on their ability or something.

Luna - Shinrin, Akiko, Akame, and Kurome's father said that the latter of the two names I listed were dead. It was never proven.

I think that's it, as always let me know what you think.


	3. Kill the Greatest Joy

"You ready?" Kenta asked, staring out into the open space in front of him.

"We've been here before," Akiko pointed out, "Nothing's changed to dramatically."

"But we've never stepped foot outside the boundary."

"Sure we have!"

"Not purposefully, well, dares don't count."

Akiko nodded in agreement before she frowned, "You can still go back, you know."

Kenta said nodded but then start jogging past the boundary, "Can't you keep up? I knew I shouldn't have traveled with such a kid!" He called over his shoulder in playful voice.

Akiko grinned and took Shadow's Army from her belt and held it in her hand and gripping it tightly before running after him, careful to make sure none of her possessions spilled out of her pack. "This isn't funny!" She called, laughter in her voice.

She easily caught up with her older cousin neither were the least bit tired. Kenta glanced to his left where Akiko was jogging next to him and fell into step, "So when do you want to spar? I want to try my new weapons out. Get a few combos into place before we go anywhere too dangerous."

Akiko looked up thoughtfully at the blue sky with its puffy white clouds, "Well, those puffy white clouds might turn into rain later. If we continue at a walking pace, we should come up to that one town, Joyou. It's pretty nice there, and it's peaceful. We'll stay there for the night."

"Joyou is expensive, from what I've heard. We have the bedrolls, why not stay the night in a tent?"

"And you brought a tent?" Akiko said doubtfully.

"Well, no, but I thought you would've."

"I had no intention of it."

Kenta sighed, "Joyou it is."

"Joyou."

The pair walked silently for several hours, when Kenta could see the outlines of the village, he stopped. He drew his new katana, "So, how about a fight?"

"A fight?"

"Yeah! I wanna try this new sword, and well, you have two new weapons. You need to learn how to get a feel for them."

Akiko considered that for a moment before shrugging and nodding in agreement. Akiko drew Shadow's Army and got in the ready position. Kenta made the first move, running toward's Akiko, sword extended. Akiko easily parried and countered a blow towards Kenta's legs. He jumped out of the way, landing on hand, carefully balancing on his left hand. He laughed and bended his arm down before springing up and back-flipping onto his feet.

"What was it you said?" He called from his side of the road. Akiko tilted her head to the side in confusion, "You know, when we were fighting for your test."

Silver eyes widened in recognition, "Summer's Glare."

Kenta nodded and narrowed his eyebrows in concentration before shouting, "Summer's Glare!"

Almost instantly the field became very bright, the golden sword radiated some light from within. Kenta was amazed that he wasn't blinded by the harsh light. He looked over at Akiko in confusion when she noticed she wasn't concerned by the light. His eyes widened in realization. _How could I forget she's blind in one eye?_ He thought in irritation, _A careless mistake,_ He admitted. Nevertheless, Kenta lunged at Akiko who had at this point closed her good eye and parried.

The both had two hands gripping the handles their sword locked against each other, evenly matched. All of a sudden, Akiko's sword seemed to covered in a dark aura before the sword passed through Kenta's own. As Shadow's Army passed through Golden Blade of Ten Thousands Suns, shadows swarmed around the black blade, instantly snuffing out the light emanating from the golden katana. More shadows seemed to swarm around the pair to the point where Kenta couldn't see. As the ebony blade finished passing through its golden twin, Kenta lurched forward as there was no longer a force keeping him propped up.

Akiko grinned when she realized that while Kenta could not see, Akiko, like with Summer's Glare, could see perfectly out of her left eye. Her right eye remained covered in a field of darkness. She watched as Kenta fell off balance at the lack of opposing force. She took this opportunity to launch a kick into his lower back, easily knocking the man to the dirt road in pain.

Kenta raised his sword up in defense but was unable to do anything substantial as he could not see. There was not enough light to do anything. He felt a blade press itself into his cheek and the shadows that had previously made it impossible to see had vanished, "I yield."

"I love this katana," Akiko said appreciatively, removing the katana from his cheek and running a hand down the length of the blade, careful not to cut herself.

Kenta chuckled to himself, "I don't. It's the perfect counter to Golden Blade of Ten Thousand Suns. But it is pretty cool looking," He amended.

"Damn right it is," Akiko said, before extending a hand to Kenta who was still laying in the dirt.

Taking it gratefully he walked over to the side of the road where they had deposited their packs. He extended the one on the right to Akiko who had approached him, "Shall we?" He asked slinging his own pack over his shoulder.

-o-

As the pair entered Joyou, the first thing that they noticed was the distinct lack of children here and the large amount of grieving people, "What happened here?" Kenta whispered to Akiko.

"No idea," She replied glancing to her left.

A woman of about thirty walked up to the two, "So he got you too?" She asked Akiko in a tone of utter anguish.

"Ma'am?" Kenta asked confused.

"Your scar," the woman said, her finger pointing to the right side of Akiko's pale face.

"My father happened," Akiko said coldly, "Now unless he's decided to prey on other people, something that would surprise no one, we have no idea what you're talking about.

"My apologies," the woman said blushing, "Please excuse me, I haven't introduced myself. My name is Airi. You see, a few months ago, a man came to our town. He looked like a clown, but he pretended to be a teacher. He went to our school and murdered all the children there." Airi paused and sniffled, "We couldn't stop him, anyone who tried was killed. He said he was preserving the kids as angels. I had thought he did the same to your village, and you were a survivor."

Akiko shook her head, "I apologize for my behavior, I had no right to speak to you so coldly, I misunderstood the situation." Akiko bowed slightly, "Please accept my apology."

Airi shook off the apology, "I should be apologizing to you for such a rude assumption," Airi inclined her head in a slight bow to indicate respect.

Kenta frowned, "That explains the lack of joy in this place."

"Indeed," Airi said looking around, "Are you staying for the night?"

"Yes," Akiko said, nodding her head, "My cousin and I are traveling to the Empire to see if we can find some relatives of ours who might be there. We decided to make a stop here since it looks like its going to rain."

Airi tilted her head up towards the sky and as Akiko had predicted earlier, the puffy white clouds had greyed and turned menacing, "Allow me to take you to the inn of the town."

Kenta and Akiko nodded their agreement and were led to a small inn. They were brought past dreary looking houses, that looked even more depressing in the dark shadows of the dark grey clouds above. The houses themselves were pretty and looked relatively wealthy. There were houses outside some houses that looked like the happiness was sucked out of them. The towns people all looked at the cobblestone roads below them. Those that had someone with them made no conversation, no one smiled, no one talked. The village was silent, despite the people walking in it.

The owner was more than happy to lend them two rooms. Airi bid them farewell and headed out of the inn. Akiko walked up to her room, Kenta following her. As they paused by room six and room seven they noticed that the rooms were across from each other. Akiko instantly chose room 7, as was on the right, so when you looked out form the inside, you could see down the hallway towards the entrance. Kenta took room six.

Akiko use the room seven key and opened the door to her room. The room was quaint and charming. There was a bookstand in the corner with a few books and a potted white orchid. A few feet away from the bookshelf were two sofa chairs with a wooden coffee chair in between them. Akiko eyes shot to the medium sized bed. The comforter was a royal blue with matching blue pillow cases over comfortable looking pillows. Against the wall on the right side of the bed, tucked into a corner, was a brown wooden dresser.

On the left side of the bed, a bedside table with a candle holder and candle. There was a window on the wall opposite the door Akiko just walked through giving the room a lot of natural light. Blue curtains were drawn to either side, allowing light to poor into the room. Akiko angled her head to look around for the bathroom and found it just on the other side of the bedside table. She shrugged off her pack next to the wall by the bed opposite the window. She made sure to place Shadow's Army leaning against the bed, allowing for easy reach just in case. She kept her hunting knives where they were. She twiddled with the ring on her left index figure and decided to keep it where it was.

She opened one of the pack's numerous pockets searching for spare clothes, finding some, she grabbed her katana and headed for the bathroom. She drew herself a bath with the inn's running water and when she tested the water's temperature was unsurprised to find it lukewarm. Her village was wealthy and could afford such luxuries as warm running water year round. She glanced around for a towel and placed it at the foot of the tub, within reach. Akiko undid the band that held her hair in a single ponytail and undressed and before lowering herself into the water. The ring glowed in the water and almost instantly the water started to get warmer, being heated by Hell's Fire.

Akiko leaned back against the wooden base, letting the water seep into her aching muscles relaxing and massaging them. Akiko closed her eyes for a moment before realizing the point of this bath. She could take another later if she desired. Akiko looked around for the soap she brought with her and ran the lavender scented bar of soap over her arms and legs wiping off the dirt and sweat and replacing it with the small of fresh lavender. Akiko grabbed a different soap and washing her long black hair.

Akiko unplugged the drain and dried herself with the towel before dressing quickly. She considered everything before she filled the tub with more water and threw her dirty clothes into it. She dropped a bit of the inn's soaps before letting the clothes soak in the lukewarm water. She put the band back in her hair which tied the hair back together.

She glanced around and closed the bathroom door when she heard a knock at the door. Akiko put her hand on the hilt of her sword and walked over to the door before she opened it.

Kenta strode into the room, his own hair damp, indicating he also freshened up. He looked around the room, "Yours is bigger than mine. And is that lavender I smell?" He paused and ran his hand through Akiko's damp hair to smell it, noticing it was actually slightly warm, "You had hot water?!" He cried in outrage.

Akiko laughed and shook her head, "No, my water was cold."

"But your hair is still kind of warm," he relied confused.

"That, dear cousin, would be thanks to my ring."

Kenta's jaw dropped, "It heated the water?" He asked weakly.

"It was lovely."

"I hate you."

Akiko shrugged, "Sorry cousin, bet your belt can't do that," she teased before gesturing to the sitting area, "Let's go over our plans. Kenta nodded and dropped into a chair, setting his pack next to him so it leaned up against the chair. He leaned down to rummage through it before pulling out a detailed map.

"We're here," he said pointing to a dot labeled Joyou, "And the capitals here," pointing to the red star.

Akiko looked for the map's key. She grabbed a book from the shelf and pressed it to the part of the key where it showed distances. She marked her finger to the point where the line ended, she carefully measured the miles to get there. The map was about five inches to get to the capital which meant they had to travel 30 more miles to get there.

"That's a long walk, but I think we can do it in two stints," Kenta said, "What then?"

"Then we find my sisters, dead or alive."

"Can I use your bathroom?"

"Warm water?"

"Yes, please."

-o-

The next morning the pair started out early. They easily over payed for their rooms, paying nearly double what they were supposed to, much to the embarrassment and appreciation of their host, who had promised their next several stays were free of charge. They stopped by the depressing market and picked up a bit of food for the road, and continued to the capital.

"Hey Akiko, if we find Akame and Kurome, what's the first thing you're going to do?"

Akiko snorted, "That's easy, hit them."

"Hit them?" Kenta said weakly, taking a hand and rubbing the back of his neck with it, "What about hugs? Or inviting them to dinner or something to catch up?"

"That comes later."

Kenta turned his head to the side, blue eyes meeting the right, scarred side of Akiko's face, "I don't understand."

"You're a guy, you're not supposed to. Plus you don't have siblings."

"I have you."

"You don't have a twin."

"You haven't seen Kurome for seven years. You don't even know if she's alive."

"Okay, then it's a girl thing."

"Girls are weird."

"You have a girlfriend." Akiko pointed out.

"Everyone except my girlfriend is weird," Kenta amended.

"I'll tell her you said that," Akiko paused, "Hey look you can see the walls!"

"You can also see a scary looking brown thing." Kenta pointed towards a large brown cockroach.

Akiko frowned, "Oh that's just an earth dragon, looks like someone's already taking it out, no biggie."

"No biggie?!" Kenta exclaimed, "It's huge!"

"We've hunted bigger," Akiko said unconcerned with the current situation.

"It's huge!" Kenta repeated hysterically.

"More importantly, why is it a dragon? Looks like a giant bug," Akiko observed, watching as it's antennae writhed around its massive head before it fell to the ground dead.

"Let's just get out here," Kenta shivered, "I hate bugs."

"Technically it's a dragon," Akiko corrected.

Kenta stopped and turned towards Akiko folding his arms over his buttoned up black trench coat, "You just said it was a bug," He said crossly.

"I just said it looked like a bug, I never said it was a bug."

He arched a single eyebrow, "Is that so?"

"Yes."

Kenta rolled his blue eyes in faux annoyance before turning and swinging an arm around Akiko's shoulders drawing her closer, "You know Akiko, I just might not regret this trip."

* * *

And there's another chapter, this one's a bit shorter than the others, but I mean, it's at least 2700 words, so not too bad. Let me know your thoughts on this one.

Also, CnC as always.


	4. Kill the Wanted Poster

The rest of the way to the Empire's Gates was spent in silence. Akiko had her sword drawn and was spiraling shadows around it, as the shadows completely enveloped the blade, it vanished.

"Hey, uh Kenta?" Akiko asked, causing Kenta to stop and sheathe is own blade, "If I lost or broke a thousand year artifact, would anyone be mad?"

Kenta turned around and started at Akiko like she had grown two heads, "Yes, I would expec- Where's your katana?"

"Yeah, that's the thing. I just had it." Akiko drew one of her hunting knives and spun it around like she had Shadow's Army, "I was just doing this, and shadows were swarming around it. And then it disappeared!"

"Your sword disappeared?" Kenta said slowly, trying to process what was being said to him and as Akiko nodded he exclaimed, "My mom is going to kill you!"

"I am well aware of that," Akiko growled, "Could this have something to do with compatibility?"

"Maybe?" Kenta said, the end coming out in a question.

"Why Kenta, that was _so_ helpful," Akiko said in irritation.

Kenta pouted slightly, "Try thinking about your sword. Maybe it's one of its abilities?"

Akiko weighed her options, not really wanting to listen to her cousin, but figuring that losing an ancient weapon was worth the humiliation, so she thought about her sword for a second. The shadows swarmed around her left hand and the katana formed into view.

"Cool!" Kenta exclaimed, "So Shadow's Army can disappear and reappear at will! I wonder what else it can do."

"Maybe it'll come to me in a dream," Akiko said sarcastically embarrassed that her cousin's idea actually worked.

-o-

When they got into the city, they had agreed to go get lunch and maybe find an inn later. As they were walking through the less important places in the city, Kenta noticed that many people were giving the pair strange looks. This caused Akiko to become slightly self conscious, assuming they were staring at her scar. He leaned over to Akiko and wrapped an arm around her pulling her to his side, an obvious sign of affection to the outsiders.

However, Kenta could feel Akiko's body tense, "Relax. Can I put your hood up?" Akiko understanding what Kenta was trying to do, she nodded. She felt the hood of her jacket get flipped onto her head. Kenta, ever the thoughtful one, made sure her weapons and hair were not disrupted by the hood.

Kenta noticed a street that seemed to have clothes. While people no longer stared at Akiko too much, they stared at him, "Hey, let's go over here."

"Why?"

"No why," Kenta said grinning and then dragged Akiko over towards to what looked like a clothing district.

He looked around and found what he wanted, an all purpose clothing store. He rummaged through piles of clothes when he spotted some trench coats over on the wall. They were all black, perfect. Kenta led Akiko over to the trench coats. He shrugged off his pack and grabbed Akiko's and rested them against the wall of the store.

"We're getting a change of clothes!" Kenta announced, "Don't give me that look. We need to blend in, well, kind of. We're no longer on the road, so there's not need to carry all this stuff that we have. Besides, the more stuff we have, the more likely we're going to get mugged."

Akiko stared at him in confusion, her cousin was being smart for a change, but nodded in agreement. She took off her jacket and trapped it over her pack. She grabbed one of the black trench coats. It was long, reaching the floor and black. It was slightly baggy in the torso area, which made it convenient for hiding weapons. It had a black hood as well, so Akiko could conceal her face. In the arms it was neither tight nor loose which allowed for easy movement should the need occur.

Akiko buttoned up the trench coat, "Well?"

"I think you need a mask," Kenta replied, "You look nice."

He passed two familiar hunting knives over with their sheathes. Akiko took off the coat and slipped the leather straps that criss crossed over her shoulders and buckled the knives into place. Akiko put the trench coat back over it, and button it back up. She grabbed the belt that she had her katana and threaded it through the jacket. Finishing the look, she positioned her hood into place.

She looked around for a mirror and smirked in appreciation, "I approve."

Kenta looked over at his cousin, and smiled, it fit her. With the way the sun was shining right now, it brought out the silver in her eyes and the scar on her face giving her slightly the scary appearance. Kenta considered it for a moment before he shook his head sadly, "You can't have your katana out like that."

Akiko looked down at the weapon and grimaced, the sword was too fancy and unique not to catch attention, "What do I do with it?"

He considered that for a moment before his eyes lit up, "Try making it disappear again," He whispered, "It might work. If you get good at it."

The silver eyed girl nodded and concentrated on the weapon in her hand, including the sheathe and belt. She imagined it disappearing, and so it did. Akiko watched as the weapon was surrounded by darkness before it vanished. She turned to her back and reach into it grabbing money and other valuables and storing it within the pockets inside her trench coat. She nodded to Kenta who had also sorted through his stuff and was wearing a similar katana. She had noticed his belt was hidden beneath the jacket.

"What about your katana?"

Kenta didn't answer for a moment before he realized he could hide the katana within the back of the jacket, the handle was peeking out, but it was ordinary enough that no one would question it. Besides, everyone here was armed. When they were both situated, they looked around the rest of the store. He spotted two thin scarves. He grabbed them without Akiko noticing and went up to the register to pay for both trench coats and scarves.

Akiko looked around the store once more before she gave her bedroll and on the road equipment to the store owner who bowed her thanks. Kenta did not pass over his bedroll instead waiting till they found the nearest poor looking person and giving it to them. They walked around till it was dark. They ended up in a district with lots of red lights.

"You know what we need?" Kenta said suddenly.

"No, what?"

"Tattoos!" Akiko glanced to the shop Kenta was pointing at, a fancy looking tattoo place.

"Absolutely not."

"We're getting the family ones."

Almost immediately, Akiko stopped and stared at Kenta before she walked off to a nearby alley.

"We are not getting the family tattoos," She whispered fiercely.

"Why not?" Kenta argued, "We've earned them. We're able to leave the village at will, we both have weapons of great power, and we're in the Empire."

"What does being in the Empire have to do with anything?" Akiko asked.

"If we get in trouble, you know those tattoos will get us out of it." Kenta whispered urgently, before pleading with his stubborn cousin, "Sleep on it."

If you still want them, we'll get them tomorrow. Well, you will at the very least. Now, we need to find a place to train and experiment before we go to sleep."

-o-

The pair had left the Empire's red lights district and headed to what seemed to be an abandoned church with a cemetery in the back. Due to the way they came into the place, they had to go through the cemetery. There were only a few bodies buried here. Akiko glanced by one of them and blew on it to help reveal the characters.

Here lies Gin

Group of Terror

Kenta had looked at it for a moment and then kneeled by a different one. This one was just as ordinary. The tombstones were all basic, no fancy inscriptions or quotes. No one seemed to take care of the graves either.

Here lies Remus

Group of Terror

The two cousins ended up looking at the other graves as well, curious as to why most of them said Group of Terror below one, but Akiko saw one that looked somewhat taken care of.

Natala

Prisoner of the Living

Friends till the end, right?

At the bottom of it looked liked some other characters, but they were scratched out by a weapon or something used to carve stone with, "Prisoner of the Living?" Kenta asked in confusion, "Who writes that on a grave?"

Akiko stared at the gravestone, "The current wielder of Yatsufusa? Whoever made this gravestone didn't want anyone finding out who wields the weapon today."

Kenta frowned before nodding his head in agreement. The users of Yatsufusa tended to be a bit disturbing and they could hold a grudge.

"Actually looks somewhat visited," Kenta replied before repeating himself, "Bit creepy though, what demented person writes "Friends till the end," on someone's gravestone?"

"A very disturbed person?" As they made it out of the graveyard, they couldn't help but feel like someone was watching them.

-o-

They spent a few hours experimenting with their new weapons. And after a bit of experimentation, the pair had learned a fair bit about their weapons. Akiko's katana gave her power of the shadows much the way Yatsufusa's did, in a sense. While she could not employ the dead as her servants, she could create things out of the shadows. So far, she had created quite the impressively small butterfly, but she had a exhausted after she created the butterfly. It could also reappear and disappear but they had yet to see if it could appear to Akiko if it was taken away from a certain distance and other similar circumstances.

Hell's Fire: Inferno, the ring, did a bit more than just heat one's bath water. It allowed the user to create and control energy in the form of fire. It did not have the versatility of Shadow's Army, as it could not create shapes. Kenta had discovered that Hell's Fire caused Akiko's body temperature to raise severely which meant she could die because her body temperature became too high. They figured as the body adapted to the change in temperature, Akiko would be able to use it without touching things. Kenta had discovered that it did not existing fire like a different ring his family made, so in a sense, it was very similar to a blood type weapon.

Ten Thousand Suns: Golden Katana controlled light and could bend light to the user's will. When activated, it gave the user perfect vision, so when they sparred that night, all Kenta saw was a beautiful summer sun, nice and bright. It's only weakness was the darkness that Shadow's Army created. Other than that, it did not do anything too spectacular that they had discovered, but it was a weapon of the day, so maybe the fact that it was night influenced it greatly.

Kenta's belt, Lizard's Colors: Chameleon Scales, granted the user partial invisibility. It could not go completely invisible like Incursio's Trump Card, as it left a slight shimmering to a trained eye indicating Kenta's presence. It automatically gave the user claws instead of hands and hard scales around the neck and face.

"Can we trade?" Kenta asked as they headed back to the district of the capital they came from, once again passing through the creepy graveyard.

"Absolutely not."

"I would've chosen that one too!" Kenta protested.

"That's nice." Akiko said uncaring.

"I hate you."

"I'm younger and I'm a girl, ladies first after all!" Akiko grinned.

"I hate you." Was the repeated reply.

When they got to the district with many red lights, Akiko noticed a red full moon, "Someone's being killed tonight." Akiko noted, before noticing the moon's shine on the tattoo parlor that Kenta wanted to go to. She sighed, "Alright, we can get your stupid tattoos."

Kenta cheered and fist pumped, "Great! Let's go."

"Tomorrow." Akiko finished before walking away to a reasonably nice looking inn.

-o-

The next morning Akiko was the first to wake up, surprisingly. She bathed and dressed similar to the way she had yesterday before she headed downstairs. Despite the time, the inn's guests were alive with murmured whispers. It was well into mid-morning, don't these people have jobs? She noticed the innkeeper cleaning the counter of his desk.

Akiko approached the man, "What's up with everyone?"

"Night Raid struck again last night. The Prime Minister's furious."

"Who's Night Raid?" Kenta asked, walking up to the two all ready to go.

"Night Raid's a local band of terrorists who commit assassinations at night, hence the name."

"Who do they kill?" Akiko asked.

"So far it's been the influential the wealthy. There are rumors that they're connected to the Revolutionary Army." Kenta and Akiko, despite the anger they felt, did not allow their emotions to show.

"Interesting," Kenta said conversationally, "Do you have two sheets of paper and a pen?"

The man gawked at Kenta, shocked by the sudden change of topic, "Yeah sure," He mumbled before passing over the asked items. Kenta thanked the man and paid for their rooms.

They left the inn and headed over to the tattoo parlor. Kenta passed over a piece of paper and the pen to Akiko as they walked into the shop. They saw the man giving a customer an intricately drawn tattoo and decided that this tattoo artist was capable of giving tattoos that would not insult the family.

The man nodded at the two and got back to what he was doing, an assistant told them to wait about fifteen minutes and asked if they had an idea about what they wanted. The two cousins nodded.

Kenta led them over to a table where they started drawing their tattoos. They were both black and simple. Akiko's was like a legionary eagle, but it did not give the detail of the feathers, with three dots above the eagles head. Above the three dots was a small bit of fire. Kenta's was a triangle with an eye in the middle. Above the eye, but inside the triangle, he had the same three dots.

"Couple tattoos?" The tattoo artist asked as he approached the two and looked at their designs.

Akiko looked horrified at the prospect, the blood draining from her face. Kenta actually covered his mouth and ran around looking for a trash can. Upon finding one, he promptly emptied the contents of his stomach in it.

"Guess not," the man said laughing in amusement.

"We're _cousins_!" Kenta exclaimed throwing his arms around.

"Sorry, sorry," the man said holding up his arms in defense, "So who wants to go first?"

The cousins exchanged looks before Akiko stepped back indicating that Kenta should go first, "I'll be outside."

"It'll take about fifteen to twenty minutes," the tattoo artist said, "Be back in fifteen, if you can."

Akiko nodded in agreement and headed back into the red light district. She walked around and noticed some paper in an ally way. Wanted Posters. She looked through them, "Night Raid." She whispered glancing at them.

She looked over the basic descriptions of each of them, before noticing the one in the middle.

"Akame."

* * *

So Akiko knows where Akame is now. Trust me, there is a reason to having these tattoos. I can't reveal everything, and it may seem out of character, but there is definitely a reason. I promise.

Also, to the reviewer who said that my Teigus weren't strong enough to be considered Teigus -

I'm sure that Leone and Lubbock, even Akame, learned everything about their Teigu immediately. I'm sure it took some tries and failures for Lubbock to figure out how to use his string efficiently. Incursio probably didn't come with an instruction manual. So let's just assume that Kenta and Akiko haven't figured out how to completely use their abilities.

As always, rate and review.


	5. Kill the Reunion

Akiko walked numbly back to the tattoo parlor, when she entered there was a light clang of the bell. She absently noticed Kenta poking his tattoo with his finger, much to the obvious irritation of the tattoo artist.

"It hurts," Kenta complained as rubbed at the newly inked skin.

"It is supposed to," the man said in irritation, "Perhaps your cousin will be better at sitting still too."

"I sat still!" Kenta protested, "Very still."

"Yes, and my mother in law is a charming woman." The tattoo artists replies sarcastically, "You did not sit still."

"Yeah well- Akiko!" Kenta perks up noticing his cousin had returned, "Tell this old man that I sat still."

She looked at him blankly before turning to the tattoo artist, "My turn?"

"You ignored my question!"

Akiko sat down the chair that Kenta had previously been sitting on and braced herself for the sharp pain she knew was to come. She had asked the tattoo artist to put the tattoo on her left bicep. Akiko's took about the same time that Kenta's took, and while Kenta supposedly moved a bit, Akiko was as still as a statue.

"You sit much more still than your foolish cousin," the man said appreciatively, "Much better results to those who sit still."

She made no response instead choosing to stare blindly into the mirror. She stared at her reflection, the familiar scar that blinded her right eye, what remained of her right eye. She wanted to reach up and trace the grooves in her skin but knew that he could possibly screw up the tattoo, so she decided against it. Instead she opted to think about what she had learned. There was a Wanted Poster of her sister. Her eldest sister. Who's supposed to be dead. Who should be dead. Akiko decided to ask Kenta for a second opinion, just to make sure it wasn't her good eye playing tricks on her.

"You're done!" the tattoo artist finally exclaimed, "I like you much more than the other boy."

Kenta glared at the man, and was about to insult him when Akiko clamped her hand over his mouth, "Thanks, I like me more than him too. How much do we owe you?"

"Your designs were so simple and did not take too long," the man said, "Promise me you will visit sometime, and I will give them to you for free." Akiko and Kenta bowed to him and the shop owner bowed in return. Akiko agreed to his terms and the two left the shop.

"These things are so cool!" He grinned as he examined the black ink on his right bicep. "What do you think of yours Akiko?" He had taken off his trench coat and had his weapons in displayed in their full glory so he could look at the marks on his arm.

"Follow me." Akiko instructed, ignoring yet again Kenta's question. Unlike her cousin, she had her trench coat on, but had her hunting knives slipped on outside the jacket, in case she needed to defend herself. She led him to a familiar alley with the Night Raid wanted posters.

"Why are we looking at these?" Kenta said disgusted, before he saw what his cousin had pointed to. There at the center were the characters for Akame. He frowned and tugged the poster off the wall and held the paper in his hand, "Red eyes... black hair.." he muttered to himself, "I can't believe it. She's alive."

Akiko numbly nodded, "Which means that my father lied to everyone."

"He didn't bring back bodies," Kenta recalled, referring to the day that the village had been told of the deaths, "Maybe they were ambushed and then kidnapped. Maybe Shinrin thought that it would be a good idea to spare a bit of grief that they might come back."

"It doesn't matter what happened," Akiko said softly, "He lied to me. My older sister is alive. My twin might be alive."

Kenta nodded in agreement, "What now?"

"I guess we find them." Akiko let out a strange laugh, "Never pictured Akame for a criminal though. Would've thought Kurome was more likely to do that."

Her cousin grinned at that and thought back to all the trouble Kurome got up to when she was younger, "Guess she was a _bit_ of a fool, wasn't she?"

"Only a bit?"

Kenta laughed, "If Akame's in Night Raid, then I guess it's time to figure out just who's responsible for creating crimes around here."

Akiko glanced back at the street behind her, "That place seems pretty scummy, got to be something we can dig up."

"If all else fails.." He paused, his blue eyes narrowing dangerously, "Then we'll have to muck up a storm so Night Raid comes after us. There can't be too many of them right? Which means," His eyes flashed, "They've got to be strong. We'll have to prove that we're just as strong."

"That'll be easy for me. You.. not so much."

"Hey!" Kenta cried in outrage raising his fist, "I'll have you know, if I equip Chame-"

"Yeah yeah yeah, whatever," Akiko called over his shoulder as she walked out of the alley, "I've got a plan."

-o-

"Our mission is to infiltrate a family's house." A woman with yellow hair announced, "They are all guilty of committing heinous crimes and murders. The youngest is a child, perhaps twelve, but she enjoys cutting up beautiful peasant women. The mother of the family drugs her victims and writes down the effects that the drugs and diseases have on her victim. The man has been seen torturing people, however, he usually covers the entire act by acting like a proper nobleman."

"A nobleman and his family, Leone?" The green haired man drawled, "They'll have guards."

The now identified Leone nodded in agreement, "We have orders to kill them as well. The guards know of the family's... less than pleasant activities and have done nothing about it.

"Are we all going?" A voice asked, sounding clueless.

"Yes, Sheele," Leone replied, "Lubbock?"

The green haired man looked up at his companion, "Hm?

"You will not be fighting."

"Oh come on!" Lubbock complained throwing his hands up in the air in annoyance, "I never get to do anything fun."

"Chill Lubbock," A muscled man said from where he was leaning against the wall, "You can provide commentary."

"Shut up, Bulat. I can fight to, you know!" Lubbock protested, trying to get assigned to the killing part of things.

"And Akame has another sibling that doesn't want to kill her," Mine said sarcastically. Everyone turned to the only red-eyed person in the room, who had been silent, "Wait. Besides, Kurome, you have another sibling that wants to kill you?"

"Wow, you have some family problems." Leone said.

"I thought my family was screwed up." Lubbock agreed, comparing his own wealthy family to Akame's.

"Did they go through that test too?" Sheele asked.

Akame bit her lower lip for a second, "I have no other sibling, it's just me and Kurome." With that she left the room.

"Wait! Akame!" Leone shouted but it was too late, the red-eyed assassin had already disappeared, "Well, I suppose I'll tell you guys. Apparently there were two kids who took interest in our Wanted Posters in the Redlights District. They're apparently trying to find us."

"Was anyone able to gather some recognizable details on them?" Bulat asked calmly, it was no surprise to hear that someone looked at their Wanted Posters, but it was good to be cautious.

"It was a girl and a boy. The girl had bright silver eyes, but a long scar that ran down her face. Most likely blinding her right eye."

"Poor kid," Bulat commented sympathetically, "This is why the Empire must be taken down, Akame is proof of that."

"And the other one?" Mein asked as she finished polishing her gun.

"Black hair and blue eyes. Most likely an older brother to the girl." Leone paused, "Oh, and they got strange tattoos on their arms. The tattoo artist, happens to a friend of mine and part of the Revolution, said that they seemed almost tribal. Furthermore, he said they were strong."

-o-

"This was a terrible." Kenta complained.

"How is this a terrible idea?"

"We're on a roof!" He exclaimed waving his hands around wildly, "We could fall off or something!"

Akiko eyes shot to him, "Invisible things don't talk, shut up."

"How rude! Neither do shadows though."

Kenta and Akiko had decided that the best way to figure out if the Redlights District was doing anything nefarious was to watch from above. Akiko had used her Teigu to wrap shadows around her entire body making it almost impossible to see her as she blended in with the darkness around here. Kenta just activated his Teigu making him invisible.

The silver eyed girl frowned and looked up at the crimson moon, "So many red moons," She sighed, "It's sad, isn't it?"

"Always is."

-o-

Somewhere on the Western borders of the Capital were a group of assassins. They all wore the same sailor-like uniform with masks covering their faces. It was the Group of Terror.

"So this is our mission?" One said.

A cookie was eaten by another, "So it is."

"Let's get this done."

The one with the bag of cookies gripped her black katana waited for the others to leave before she turned her head north her gaze was wistful and her voice soft with hope, "I wonder if I time to go home?"

"Kurome!" The first one called from his position outside the house they were inhabiting.

"Coming!" She called back, "Maybe next time, little sis."

* * *

Speculations anyone?

Also thank you to one of the reviewers that pointed out that chapters 2 and 3 were the same one.


	6. Kill the Mistakes

Kenta sighed as he stared up at the crimson moon, he took another sip of his drink and waited for the man to show up. He thought back to the night he and his cousin sat on top of the roof for over four hours. He chuckled as he thought back to the cramps he had gotten from that. He groaned and stretched his arms up before Kenta stood up and was about to hop back onto the roof he had just jumped down from, when he saw a young girl being chased by a boy of equal age. They must've been around the same age as Akiko, maybe a bit older.

He considered his options before shrugging and followed the two, leaving the shadows of his alley. He jogged quietly behind them, making sure to mask his presence and hide from sight.

"Damn it Akiko," He muttered to himself as he reached what looked like an abandoned arena, "Why does it have to be my night?"

They had heard of the reports of a strange person executing people night after night, leaving the bodies but keeping the heads. Eventually, they assumed that Night Raid would be attracted to the scene. Akiko and Kenta would be waiting for that.

Kenta perched in the shadows but was in eye sight as he watched the poor boy learn that he was under some sort of spell by the Teigu. He smirked to himself, recognizing the eye. Imperial Arms - Spectator had five different abilities, one of which included a ridiculously unfair trump card. He shivered at the thought of the man using it, it was truly unfair.

"Guess I should help out, shouldn't I?" He mumbled before slowing standing and walking towards the two fighters. The boy, who's name had yet to be revealed, was severely cut up and seemed to be waiting for someone.

"Yo!" Kenta cried waving his hand at the executioner, "What's up?"

"I'll be right with you, kid," The executioner said a creepy smile etched on his face, "Please excuse me as I cut up and behead this boy here."

"Like hell I'll let you do that!" The boy shouted, he spat out a mouthful of blood and despite his grievous injuries, he was able to old his sword steadily, "Get out of here, I can take him!"

Kenta inclined his head in acceptance to the boy's words but smiled softly, "I'm afraid I can't let you have _all_ the fun. You'd be as bad as my cousin." He stood inbetween the fighters, his back to the boy with emerald green eyes, "Zank, your opponent is me. I have an Imperial Arms as well, should make for an interesting fight, yeah?"

"Delightful, delightful," Zank's smile didn't waver as he pointed his hand at Kenta, "Let's see what you're made out of."

Kenta, on his part, looked unconcerned by the size or experience of his opponent. Watching Zank and the unknown boy fight, allowed Kenta to judge his new opponent's fighting style. Zank was successful because he was able to see what was happening, if Kenta removed that.. well, things would be all too easy.

He adjusted his hood, making sure that it wouldn't fall off in battle, and drew his weapon, "Good game, bro." Kenta slowly activated Chameleon's Belt and for the most part, disappeared. He smirked and closed his eyes, clearing his mind.

"Oh?" Zank said in confusion, his opponent had both disappeared from sight and he could not find their thoughts, "Where are you?" He snarled.

"Over here!" Kenta shouted making Zank whirl as the insane executioner lost an arm.

"What the!?"

Kenta smirked and deactivated his belt, "I've been watching you two fight for awhile. Your fighting style is based on the other person's. Since you cannot read my movements nor can you read my mind.. I studied all about the forty-eight Imperial Arms, I've learned, in part, their counters. Though I must admit, my cousin is much better."

"You are mistaken to show yourself to me!" Zank shouted, "Illusionary Sight!"

Kenta rolled his eyes, but stared at the figure he saw. This figure, was his mother. While he would never actually hurt his mother.. He also knew that this person, was not his mother. He pretended to go along with the illusion, "Mother.."

"Illusionary Sight, makes it so your loved ones appear before you. It may only work on one person.. but the illusion is strong. No one can kill the one they love."

Zank charged sloppily at the relaxed form of Kenta. Kenta smirked and swept his katana in an upward arc, forcing Zank to block with his remaining arm.

"What?! You should've seen the person you loved!"

"My mother, would _never_ leave the village. Ever." He titled his head to the side, "Your weapon is about to break. Summer's Glare!"

Almost immediately his golden sword erupted into a bright light instantly blinding everyone, also probably sending a signal to everyone in the city, including his cousin. Kenta lazily walked over to Zank's form where he was cowering and covering his eyes. Making sure his mind was clear, Kenta swiftly stabbed through Zank's spine from behind. In the same strike he was able to swipe through the spine and also pierce the heart.

The harsh glare faded and Kenta sheathed his katana behind his head and back where it belonged. He stared down at the form of Zank, "Like I said, good game bro."

Kenta calmly walked back towards the cut up form of the green-eyed boy, "You alright kid? He said something about a partner of yours, yeah?"

"Yes, he did." A voice said from behind him. Akame stood close to where Zank was and stared at the hooded figure which was Kenta. Kenta turned around and backed away from the boy's form, "Tatsumi, I will finish this quickly and tend to your wounds."

Before he turned away from Tatsumi, Kenta muttered to himself though accidentally loud enough for Tatsumi to hear, "Damn, Akiko's going to kill me." Kenta then proceeded to smile from underneath shadows of his hood, "I'm afraid I can't let you do that, Akame of Night Raid. You see, I have a promise to keep to my cousin."

"Reinforcements are on the way," Akame replied coldly, "You'd never make it out of this arena alive."

"Who's to say _I_ don't have reinforcements?" Kenta said in annoyance, "Why does no one think I can do _anything?_ "

"Probably because you can't," Lubbock said calmly as he strode into the arena-like area with the rest of Night Raid behind him. He had his arms behind his head in a supporting manner.

"So there's no way you'll let me leave?" Kenta asked, "I'd really like to use the bathroom, maybe grab a glass of water?"

"You're awfully chipper for someone who's surrounded."

"Ah well... I'm optimistic. Try it some time, Akame." He started walking towards Night Raid who at this point were flanking their red-eyed comrade while he drew Golden Blade of Ten Thousand Suns, "By the way.. Summer's Glare." Once again, a harsh light appeared, causing Night Raid to instantly cover their eyes. When the light was gone, so was the hooded figure.

-o-

Kenta stuffed his hands in the pockets of his trench coat as he headed to the empty Red Lights district, or rather more specifically to the local inn they were still staying at.

 _Akiko's going to kill me,_ Kenta thought in despair, _But I can tell her Akame's definitely alive. Is that good or bad? Shit. Will Akiko think that's good or bad? Women are so complicated._

He knocked twice on the door and heard Akiko's light feet answering it, "Saw the light," Akiko said in way of greeting as she moved to let her cousin enter.

"Mhm. Killed Zank," Kenta murmured as he moved to the food Akiko had out on the table, no doubt for him. Hopefully, "Night Raid was there. Zank had cornered one of their newer members, I intervened."

"And?"

"Saw Akame. Might've insulted her once or twice."

"Oh?"

"Yeah, so is this food for me?" Kenta asked changing the subject, "I'm really hungry."

"Yeah, leftovers from my dinner," Akiko replied as she headed towards the bathroom, "I'm going to take a bath. Let me know when you're leaving."

-o-

"That man saved my life!" Tatsumi shot back to the members of Night Raid, "I may not be alive if it weren't for him."

"You don't know what he was going to do after Zank was killed." Akame said emotionlessly, "He could've been the one we've been warned about."

"Why'd he leave the Teigu then?" Najenda intervened from her position on the chair, "Why leave you alive?"

The room was silent. Night Raid knew that while they were blinded, the man could've stolen the weapon and killed them with ease. Akame broke the silence with a defiant tone that was unknown to her comrades, "I would have made it in time." She paused and her eyes turned slightly downcast, "I _would've_ made it. I won't allow myself to not make it in time again."

"Look, the point is, we have a Teigu and two unknown figures on the prowl." Leone finally said.

Bulat nodded in agreement, "We need to figure out who they are and either kill them or invite them to join us."

Tatsumi recalled what the man said, "The guy said something along the lines of 'Akiko's going to kill me' before he turned around to face you. I don't think he meant for me to hear that though."

Akame's eyes widened, "Are you sure that's what he said?" She demanded as she approached him, she very nearly grasped the collar of his shirt and held him up.

"Positive," Tatsumi gulped fearfully.

"Najenda, I request a leave." Akame turned around without waiting for an answer, making sure to grab Murasame and her black cloak before going. She gritted her teeth as she swung the cloak over her body.

* * *

Well I updated! Finally. Will have Book of Names, One Day at a Time, and Hundred Ways to Fall in Love updated tomorrow or later tonight. Consider it a Christmas gift?

Disclaimer - I don't Akame ga kill, I do own Kenta and Akiko though.

Eriphabottackson - I don't have pairings yet, but yes, Akame x Tatsumi is a possibility. Kenta and Akiko (well and Akame/Kurome) are cousins, so no they will not be paired. Besides, Kenta has a girlfriend. And no, that was not intentional. I want to define Kenta and Akiko's relationship as being one of friendly annoyance full of jokes and playful times. I also want to define their personalities as being compatible.


	7. Kill the Tears

Akame sat huddled against a partially destroyed wall. Her knees were hugged to her chest and tears streamed down her face. She was more or less inside the borders of the Imperial City, but in an area that no one dared venture into. Around her were the ruins of quite the impressive building, though it's true purpose could never be identified unless you lived there and were able to remember what it was. Murasame was discarded next to Akame almost carelessly. Though, if a citizen, monster, or enemy did wander into the ruins, it was still close enough to be used.

She furiously scrubbed her face after a couple hours of crying and stood up in determination. The assassin would have to return to Night Raid soon enough, and no doubt face the small repercussions of her actions. However, she had a few days until they would become concerned and go after her. Akame threw up the hood of her cloak and walked in the direction of the crowded Imperial Capital. Where she was wanted, for murder and for being part of Night Raid. Akame shrugged carelessly, she always was known to act with her heart more than her brain. Something that got her into trouble with her mentor.

 _Akiko, I won't fail you this time. This time I'll be there. This time... I'll be strong enough._

-o-

"This is still boring," Kenta complained as he watched the Red Lights district from above. When his complaint was met with silence, he was instantly on guard, "Akiko?"

He turned around, still crouched carefully on a very familiar roof. The shadows that were swarming Akiko were gone. In their place was air and some of those yellow flashing lights that swarmed around where her figure should have been. (1)

"Shit!" He cursed and quickly deactivated his belt and jumped down into the crowded streets below. He walked around, making sure to look more up than down. Good thing too, as he saw two familiar people running across the roof tops of the buildings and then crashing into a window. Kenta sighed and looked around for an alley before quickly following them into the window.

When he arrived, Night Raid had taken care of whatever they needed to take care of, thought they still lingered as if admiring their work. He frowned and made sure his hood covered his face, "Night Raid."

Leone was the first to react and quickly got into the ready position, "If you interfere, we'll have to kill you."

Kenta grinned to himself beneath his hood, "I could've killed you the last time we met. Last I checked, you were still alive."

"Doesn't matter, kid." Leone replied confidently, "Just because you showed us mercy, doesn't mean we'll show you any."

"Hold on, Leone," Tatsumi whispered quietly, "This is the man that saved my life."

"He might-" Leone started only for Kenta to interrupt.

"I have no intention of interrupting or interfering with whatever happened here. It's too late for that anyway. I just want you to explain what's going on here." Kenta replied reasonably, "The posters say you're all wanted for numerous accounts of murder, but I don't think that's the whole story."

Leone hesitated for a second, "I can't explain here. Not when someone could walk in at any time."

"That's fair," Kenta replied agreeably, "Is there some place you'd prefer?"

His mother taught him to be polite to a woman, no matter who it was. _Quite interesting,_ he mused to himself, _Akiko was never told that.. Wait, Mother, do you like Akiko more than your own son?!_

"I'd offer to take you to our HQ and have our boss explain our organization..."

"But I could betray this information to the Empire."

"Right. You wouldn't happen to have a house or something around here would you?"

"I don't, I'm actually from out of town," He paused for a moment, "I share a inn room pretty close by here with my cousin. You'll love my cousin. She's a rainbow of positive behavior and happiness." The last bit he said sarcastically to inform Night Raid that Akiko might not be too agreeable to having strangers in her - _their_ room. Why they were sharing a room is anyone's guess.

"That might work," Leone concurred thoughtfully, "But we have to report to our boss that this mission is over with."

"You two aren't on Wanted Posters, correct?" A nod. "Leone, was it?" Another nod. "You seem very familiar with these streets. There's a coffee shop I've taken a liking to, much to my cousin's irritation as she likes to sleep, where I like morning coffee instead of mid afternoon coffee- Right. Focus. Anyway, we could perhaps meet there and act as old friends or something, and then I could lead you to my hotel room and we could further discuss Night Raid's motive. Is this an acceptable plan?"

"I'd have to go over it with our boss, but that should work."

"If things do not go well with your boss and you do not turn up at the coffee shop I have in mind, then I will not in the least be offended. I will not pursue you either nor turn your faces into the police."

"Would you be offended if I brought more members than just the two of us?" Leone asked, she could be serious when she needed to be. Although, it was a rare trait of her personality when, on the rare occasions, it was allowed to be seen.

"No, in fact it would only add to the validity of your actions."

"What about your cousin?"

"She'll get over it. We were both raised to be courteous and respectful, no matter the situation. While she won't make the effort to become your new best friend nor participate in the conversation more than she feels societal etiquette demands her to, she will make the effort to be civil."

"Interesting cousin." Tatsumi remarked.

"Indeed," Kenta's voice was almost wistful. That said, he would _never_ think of being with Akiko in _that_ way.

While the two members and Kenta were speaking, they had moved outside and onto one of the rooftops surrounding the building that they broke into. Soon after lining out the place where Kenta would wait until twelve o'clock after arriving four hours prior to the time they had decided on meeting, the two groups left the rooftop and went their separate directions.

For Kenta, he decided that he would retire for the night. Akiko would show up sooner or later, she always did. For Night Raid, they were left confused. This man, while he had been confident he could beat all of them in a fight, was nothing but polite and genuinely curious in their mission and that of the Revolutionary Army. He was one of the few who was willing to look past the propaganda the Empire distributed that insisted on Night Raid being criminals. They could only hope his cousin was just as accepting.

-o-

Meanwhile...

 _I wonder how long it will take before Kenta notices I left him for a walk in the park,_ Akiko pondered, _Oh well, Kenta's a big boy. He can survive a few hours without me._

"A hah!" An insane voice sounded a fair distance in front of Akiko. The scarred young woman immediately perked, _a fight?_ A single gun shot ran out.

"I defeated one of the- WHAT?! She blocked?!" The voice continued.

Akiko walked slowly over to the well lit area, much to her irritation. A loud blast sounded, something that reminded Akiko vaguely of a gun. Akiko jumped into a tree and silently watched the fight.

On one side, she saw two members of Night Raid. Well, she assumed they were both Night Raid. The one with glasses and lavender dress was definitely the one of the posters that she and Kenta saved.

"Picking on people with an organic weapon?" Akiko asked from her tree, garnering the attention of all three combatants, "Isn't that cheating?"

"Where are you?" The officer shouted, well the silver eyed young woman assumed was an officer. She did have the badge and armor on.

"In a tree? Can't you tell?" Akiko mocked from her tree.

"Koro, destroy that tree."

Almost immediately the dog-like creature reacted and ate the tree that Akiko had been previously crouched in. Luckily for her, she was able to jump out of the tree just before.

"Yikes! You could've killed me! What's your problem?" She demanded heatedly.

"You. You're defending these criminals!"

"I did no such thing. I just said it was kind of mean that you're using something that is literally almost impossible to be killed on someone with a pair of scissors. I just think that's a bit unfair. Oh right, introductions, my name is Gin. Yours?"

"Unfair?" The auburn hair colored police officer blinked once, "Seryu."

"Okay Seryu, yes unfair. I'm sure these two ladies are just taking a stroll in the park. I'm sure their armed because they're afraid of psychotic police officers like yourself and that one guy who beheads people at night murdering them. Perfectly reasonable. Personally, I'd be armed with more than just a gun. Maybe a set of armor too." Akiko smirked and let her silver eyes bore into Seryu's confused ones. Koharu always said her sass would get her in trouble. Oh well.

"They're criminals! They're wanted for murder!"

"Isn't large amounts of property damage also a crime?" Akiko asked thoughtfully tilting her head to the side in faux confusion, "You're creating a lot more of that than they are. I don't see any bodies around here either, so uh, are you sure they're wanted for murder?"

Seryu blushed, "I- I-" She stammered relaxed her stance, her anger seemed to melt away, "You're right, good citizen. It's only fair that those who enforce the law must also obey the law."

"Great! So now we can all go home now and get a good night's sleep. I'm really hoping for a good dream, you know? I've always wanted to fly." Akiko's sarcasm and sass was at a new high. If only Kenta was here, he'd be laughing so hard.

Akiko's trench coat was buttoned up, but her hood did not cover her face, allowing her scar which at sometimes could be intimidating to be seen by all.

"Uh yeah," Seryu stuttered staring at the right side of Akiko's face, or more specifically the deep scar that ran down it.

"Hold up!" Mein shouted holding up a hand in a stopping motion, "Who exactly are you?"

It was Akiko's turn to look confused for real this time, "I introduced myself as Gin, didn't I? Forgive me if I didn't."

"You did," Sheele whispered quietly.

"Why the hell are you defending us?" Mein's voice held command in it.

"Night Raid can't be all that bad right? I mean, you didn't make the first strike right?"

"You know they're part of Night Raid and you're _still_ defending them?" Seryu asked incredulously.

"Well, it's only murder right? Happens all the time here. I don't see the other citizens being persecuted for their actions. On my travels here, my cousin and I went through a town that was burned down on the authorization of the Prime Minister. Surely not _everyone_ in that town was bad. It had a lot of houses."

Silence.

"Right, well I'm just going to-"

"Wait," Mein ordered, her voice softened, "You remind me of someone."

Sheele turned her head to the side slightly, "She doesn't remind me of anyone."

"Does the name Akame mean anything to you?" Mein asked, Gin (or Akiko) did resemble Akame a lot.

Akiko mask slid into place, "Nope! Well, except that she's wanted? She must've really screwed up. She's got the largest bounty out of all your wanted people. Even more than that Najenda chick." She whistled impressed, "Right see ya!"

Mein's jaw went slack and her gaze shifted to Seryu who shrugged and turned around but not before tossing over her shoulder, "I'm still going to report you as being part of Night Raid even if this strange kid convinced me not to kill you. Koro, come!"

Night Raid walked in shocked silence back to their headquarters. To say they were surprised was the understatement of the century.

-o-

"So I had an interesting night.." Leone started before Mein and Sheele burst into the room.

"We can probably trump yours."

"Doubt it." Tatsumi muttered quietly, before noticing Akame had returned looking more glum and depressed than normal, "Yo Akame, when you'd get back?" He raised an arm in greeting. Akame nodded quietly to Tatsumi in return and then turned her attention to the floor, "O-okay.."

"Anyway," Leone restarted what she was about to say, "That guy who blinded us a few days ago showed up at the place Tatsumi and I were sent to tonight, Boss."

Najenda sat up in her chair and put her chin into her normal hand and stroked it like she had an imaginary beard, "Interesting, and?"

"He wants to meet with us. Well, those of us who aren't known. Or just Tatsumi and I."

"Too risky." Najenda said, "I'd prefer to have this man come out of the city."

"That's what I was thinking too, Boss," Tatsumi replied so Leone didn't have to, "But the thing is, he assured us that he wasn't going to turn us in. In fact, he said he wanted to know our motives. He predicted our concerns and came up with counter measures to them. The place he picked out was very crowded and the inn he's staying at is right across the street from the coffee place."

"That's coincidental," Mein remarked, "There was this girl with silver eyes and a nasty scar on the right side of her face who actually convince one of the Imperial Police not to battle us. I mean, she stopped the battle completely. Didn't look concerned by our weapons or the fact that the police woman was insane."

"Silver eyes and a scar?" Akame whispered, "Look like me at all?"

"Y-yeah," Mein said shocked that her comrade knew what was going on, "You know them? She called herself Gin. We asked if she knew you, she said she didn't."

Akame's eyes welled with tears at that statement, "She said she didn't know me?" The red-eyed assassin whispered brokenly, "I.."

Leone walked up her friend and knelt in front of her, gently taking one of her hands and holding it between her own, "Akame.. what's wrong? You're never like this."

"Gin is after her eyes," Akame breathed, "It's more of a nickname really. Kind of a play on the one I used to have."

"Who is she?" Bulat asked from his place leaning against the wall.

"She's Kurome's twin. She's my youngest sister. Her name is Akiko."

* * *

Damn. This was A) Really long. B) Really fun to write C) A very fast update for this story.

This story is honestly really starting to interest me (it really should, I'm writing it), and I think that everything else (save Hundred Ways to Fall in Love) is going on the backburner. Sorry!

Disclaimer - I don't own Akame ga Kill. But I did get a friend of mine to translate the Korean version of the archived raw file of Akame ga Kiru! Chapter 66. Really excited to read that.

As always, leave your thoughts below and share the story.

(1) - I hope that reference was understood. I think it should be but oh well, I'll explain it just in case. Anime and a lot of cartoons use it to explain that something that should be there is missing. Just in case I did a bad job of explaining it when I wrote the chapter.


	8. Kill the Anger

"I can't believe she's alive," Akame whispered, "I thought he'd kill her."

"He?"

"My father," Akame replied grimly, her red eyes filled with remorse and anger. Anger at herself for not trying to go back to see the state of things.

"Woah woah woah," Lubbock said, holding up his hands in a slow down jester, "Back up the bus here. Kurome has a younger twin? And that twin was believed to be dead, because of your father."

Akame nodded slowly, before turning to Najenda. Her red eyes blazing with determination, "I'm going to town to meet this person that Leone and Tatsumi talked to. Akiko can't be in two places at once."

"No!" Najenda said immediately, "You're wanted in the Empire. Not worth the risk."

"This," Akame said coldly, "Is not up for debate."

"We don't know if we can trust him." Najenda countered.

The red-eyed assassin considered this for a moment before directing her attention to Leone and Tatsumi, "The man you met, describe him."

Leone and Tatsumi exchanged looks quickly before Tatsumi began, "Well, he had dark hair that was swept to the side. Kind of pointed at the end that reminds me a bird's tail. He was tall, and his eyes were this weird electric blue."

"Electric blue..." Akame murmured, "Kenta. It has to be Kenta."

"I'm still against the idea of you going into the city," Najenda commented, "You will not be going." Akame looked like she was about to protest, "You may wait outside the city. Leone and Tatsumi will lead them to an abandoned church outside the walls."

-o-

Kenta sighed as he stirred two cubes of sugar and a healthy dash of cream into his coffee. He unfolded the newspaper he had bought at the register and waited outside under an umbrella as the morning sun rose. Electric blue eyes scanned the pages in annoyance.

"Death... execution... wedding..." He mumbled, "This newspaper has absolutely no news. No sports section either."

He paused when he saw Akiko come out of the inn, waving her over to his table. He called to the waitress for another coffee, and divided the paper in half.

"Morning." Akiko greeted.

"You're up early," Kenta remarked, "Do you have a date that I'm not aware of?" He teased.

Akiko childishly stuck out her tongue at the man and started reading the newspaper, "Think they have a puzzle section?"

"Doubt it. They didn't even have a sports section!"

"Oh no," she intoned, "How will we ever survive?"

Kenta quickly rolled his section up and hit her on the top of the head, "Shut up."

Breakfast came quickly, two eggs a piece and three pieces of bacon as well as a small portion of fruit. Fruit was quickly exchanged for extra bacon and an egg. Akiko grumbled as she ate her fruit silently cursing her injuries. However she did find a small puzzle section in the newspaper.

Leone and Tatsumi watched the pair interact from afar. Leone noticed the similarities between Akame, Kenta, and Akiko. They both moved with the same grace and confidence. Tatsumi was the first to approach the pair.

"Hey there!" Tatsumi called from the entrance gate of the cafe. Leone was a few paces behind him.

"Friends of yours?" Akiko whispered to her cousin quietly.

"Of a sort," Kenta replied just as quiet before raising his voice to reply to Tatsumi, "Hi, long time no see! I thought you'd gotten eaten or something."

"The earth dragon was no match for me!" Tatsumi replied flexing to continue the joking tone. He sat down opposite Kenta, while Leone sat opposite Akiko.

"So," Leone said, entering the conversation, "This is the infamous cousin I've heard so much about. Gin, was it?"

Akiko slowly nodded and popped another berry into her mouth, "And you?"

"Leone, a pleasure."

"Likewise."

Awkward silence enveloped the group before Kenta got up, "Perhaps we should continue this conversation in our inn room? I'd really like a chance to catch up with my old school bud. I'd rather not talk about it in such a public establishment, it'd be awkward if one of the people I used to prank walked in." Akiko rolled her eyes but nodded and lead the way up to their modest inn room.

Once again, there was silence.

"So, Night Raid," Kenta finally said, "Explain."

"We're allied with the Revolutionary Army. We aim to take down the corrupt government and hopefully bring in a much more peaceful and healthy one that will benefit all people."

"And the people you kill?"

"People that are accused by the people of crimes. Such as human trafficking, illegal drugs, and relatives of the prime minister."

"You are willing to kill others for being related to someone bad?"

"No," Tatsumi intervened, "These people must've done something. For example, we recently killed his nephew because his nephew was using the minister's name to commit heinous crimes."

"Such as?" Kenta asked with a raised eyebrow.

"He was using his uncle's name to do some... interesting things with drugs." Leone said vaguely making a disgusted face.

Akiko raised an eyebrow, "Right, you can uh, catch up. Kenta, I'm going out." Akiko threw on her black trench coat and was about to head out when a hand on her shoulder stopped her.

"What's your relationship with Akame?"

Kenta resisted the urge to laugh while Akiko slowly turned around, "So you know." It was not a question. Tatsumi nodded.

"I have no relationship with Akame." Akiko said coldly, her silver eyes narrowed in anger, "She and Kurome have done nothing but betray me time and time again. I am blind because of them." The scarred girl angrily shrugged off Leone's hand as she left the room making sure to loudly slam the door behind her.

Tatsumi moved to chase after the silver-eyed girl but Kenta's voice stopped him, "Akiko has a temper, Tatsumi. It's best to leave her alone for a bit. Let her cool down. I'm willing to join Night Raid, but I want answers from Akame first."

-o-

Leone and Tatsumi lead Kenta to the ruined church that Akame was waiting at. They found her kneeling at one of the graves, tenderly brushing away the dirt that had gotten stuck in the engraved letters on the tombstone. She gently tugged at the weeds growing around them.

"So you are alive," Kenta said quietly folding his arms over his chest.

"As are you," Akame replied shortly.

"You, should be dead."

"I... I had to protect Kurome. I had to survive for her."

Kenta gritted his teeth in obvious anger, "You always have to protect _Kurome._ Kurome's obviously the one who's been blinded by her sisters' foolish actions. Kurome, is the one who's suffered for the past 7 years. Who had all the skin ripped off her back _days_ after you were supposedly reported dead. My apologies, Akame. I seem to have mixed the twins up."

"I never intend-" Akame began before Kenta's dismissive snort cut her off.

"You never intend to do anything, cousin. Fitting, crimson eyes to match the crimson blood that stains your hands."

Tatsumi and Leone immediately jumped to Akame's defense before she waved them off, "Kenta has every right to be angry with me."

"You're God damn right I have _every_ right. I'd have the only right if Akiko wasn't also in the city to yell at you. Tell me, cousin _dearest,_ " Kenta sneered the dearest part, "Is Kurome alive? Or has your stupidity killed her as well?"

"Kurome's alive." Akame whispered, "She remains part of the organization that we were sold to."

"The cousins I knew never would have let themselves be sold into slavery may-"

"Assassination."

"I'm sorry?"

"Our father sold us to men of the Empire who wanted to train an elite group of assassins from birth. Kurome and I were part of those kids that were trained." Akame explained emotionless, the lines sounded rehearsed.

"This is even better!" Kenta crowed, "Wait till Akiko finds out that not only were you part of the Empire, but that you were raised as an assassin. Perfectly capable to come back home." Electric blue eyes narrowed dangerously, "Make no mistake Akame. While part of me is happy you survived. The larger part of me wants to kill you here and now. Finish off what should've happened seven years ago. Spare Akiko from having to dirty herself by covering her hands with the blood of a pathetic coward."

Akame's lower lip quivered momentarily, "I understand. I did what I thought was right."

Kenta's gaze softened a bit, his electric blue eyes no longer narrows in anger. He sighed and ran his right hand through his dark hair, "I... Akame, you need to explain one last thing to me, why isn't Kurome with you?"

"She stayed behind, her mind has become twisted. Fighting for the Empire is all she's ever known. Fighting the Empire's fight."

"That is not a reason." Kenta replied, his voice barely above a whisper, his voice a bit higher but littered with danger.

"Kurome," Akame sighed, "She... She thinks I'm a traitor to the Empire. I betrayed her. Okay? I left her to the Empire because she wouldn't come with me and try to change the corruption. Kurome works with the Group of Terror, a second assassination group. My teammates, of the Elite Seven, have all died or are critically injured."

Kenta bowed his head in acceptance, before he flicked his gaze to Leone and Tatsumi who looked at the ready in case a fight should erupt between the two cousins.

"Why didn't Akiko come?" Akame asked softly, her eyes filled with trepidation and fear.

"Akiko holds grudges," Kenta replied, "I once, broke a plate of my mother's. But I made it look like Akiko did it, she still holds it against me. This was four years ago."

Tatsumi whistled impressed, "Damn. Now I know not to anger her."

"No kidding," Kenta's short laugh rang through the deserted area, "Don't get me started on the practical jokes I've played on her either." He shivered for a moment, "For someone who can only see with one eye, she can have really good aim."

Leone raised an eyebrow and folded her arms over her chest, "This I gotta hear."

Kenta grinned wryly, "I moved everything in her room an inch or two to the left. And on top of that, I switch all her books around. She kept stubbing her toe on her dresser and her bed. Being blind in one eye, it kinda screwed up her depth perception. I went into her room once, to see if she wanted to play a game with me, but I accidentally let it slip that I was the one who messed with her room. She keeps a hunting knife by her bedside table, it's a good couple feet, she threw it at me. It landed just below my... uh, manly bits. It tore a hole in my pants too! D'you know what she said? 'Do this again, and I won't miss."

Tatsumi winced but Leone howled with laughter, "Sounds like you deserved it though, moving the stuff of a blind girl."

"Half blind!" Kenta quickly corrected, "It was a joke!"

Akame smiled slightly, "Have any more of these stories?"

Kenta rolled his eyes, "You have no idea..."

"Kenta, Kenta, Kenta," A voice drawled from the shadows, "I thought I said we were to punch Akame, not become buddy-buddy and share all your embarrassing stories. Though, you certainly do have a lot of them."

From the shadows of the trees emerged a girl with silver eyes and a large scar running down the right side of her face. She had a black trench covering the clothes underneath and all potential weapons, though you could see the handles of two knives that were on her back. Her long hair was tied back in a low hanging ponytail. Her silver eyes flashed with malice, but there was no blood lust to be detected.

"Akiko," Akame whispered, voice slightly hopeful, red eyes held tears.

"Dear, _most beloved,_ older sister," Akiko replied her voice dripping with venom and disgust, "How truly _wonderful_ it is to see you alive."

* * *

I apologize it took me so long to update. I can't promise that I'll update everything soon. But I guess one thing is better than nothing. Thoughts? Comments? Concerns?

Is Kenta's reaction to Akame a bit over the top? Should Kenta and Akiko join Night or should they join the Jaegars? Or better yet, should they split up? One go Najenda the other to Esdeath? What do you think is going to happen?


	9. Kill the Recruits

"Akiko.." Akame trailed off and stared at the face of her long lost youngest sister.

"Akiko," Kenta repeated her name, but his voice was more urgent, "I know your temper, cousin."

"What temper? I do not have a temper!" Akiko protested her voice softening and changing as she spoke to her cousin. "Besides, I'm not that stupid, you on the other hand..."

"Hey!"

The silver eyed girl shifted her eyes to Akame's lithe form, "I heard your conversation with Kenta, and he's right. If anyone in the world had the right to kill you, it'd be me. Maybe Kurome, since you abandoned her too." Akiko paused and made a disgusted face at the concept of having something in common with her twin, "But I'm younger, technically, I get to kill you first. Besides, I don't see Kurome here now."

"Do you truly wish to kill me?" Akame whispered, afraid of the answer. Her crimson colored shimmered with tears.

Akiko sighed and tilted her head back and looked up at the sparkling stars as if asking them a question and waiting for an answer, "I'm not sure."

"I don't think we should," Kenta said quietly causing everyone to glance at him in confusion. He sighed, "We grew up believing them dead, cousin. Don't let your father win."

"He wins either way!" Akiko growled in outrage, "He wins if they're dead, he wins if they're alive!"

Kenta walked over to the enraged girl and carefully put his arms around her in a well-meaning hug, "It isn't their fault, you know that. I'm not letting you go till I'm sure you won't attack."

"If you don't let me go right now, I swear by all that's holy, I will castrate you." Akiko threatened lowly. Kenta faltered slightly, and careful released his cousin, "Smart move."

"And you called me stupid!"

"Only a majority of the time, a very large majority of the time."

Night Raid watched in awe. Leone shot a look at Akame, _This is what Akame could've been like. Akiko, Akame... they're so different. Akame was taught to bury her emotions. Akiko learned how to control her emotions, but she doesn't extinguish them like Aame is prone to do._

"So..." Tatsumi trailed off, "You two joining or..?"

The cousins exchanged looks, their eyes having their own private conversation. Akiko sighed and blew air upwards in annoyance, while Kenta fist pumped in victory.

"Yeah, we're joining." Kenta spoke finally for both of them, "We have a few conditions though."

"And what, Kenta, are those conditions?" A new voice called and from under the cover of the trees appeared the rest of Night Raid.

Bulat stood there with his arms folded over his chest, black hair carefully combed. Sheele waved shyly at Akiko who nodded calmly back, her scissors held behind her. Mein stood next to Sheele, Pumpkin cross her chest, one hand on the trigger, the other supporting the barrel. Lubbock lazily held his hands behind his neck, looking bored.

Most prominent was Najenda who stood at the front of the pack. She had a lit cigarette in her mouth and wore her usual business like suit.

"If Kurome ever becomes a target, we want to talk to her first."

"Done." Najenda replied as she blew out smoke, "Anything else?"

"I never have to share a room with this oaf," Akiko said grinning and shoving Kenta who pretended to look insulted and in pain before her expression grew serious, "I.. am not required to interact with Akame anymore than I desire to." Akame tensed.

Najenda hesitated, "If it necessary, where it requires the two of you to complete a mission... then you may have to spend time with her. However, I will try to avoid contact between the pair of you."

Akiko nodded in acceptanced and smirked at Night Raid for a moment, "However, fair warning, I hope none of you are afraid of the dark. Or fire."

Night Raid led the two new members to their headquarters deep within the forest, their home etched from what looked like the underside of a cliff. Najenda had dismissed Night Raid, leaving Tatsumi and Leone to show the two cousins where they would be staying.

"Here's your room," Leone gestured to a door on the left, "We figured, given your blindness, that you'd like to be on the left, rather than the right. Kenta is right across the hall and to the left."

The new girl nodded calmly, and said her thanks before leaving the hallway to the dark room.

The silver eyed girl walked into her quaint room. She played with the ring on her left finger, a nervous habit she'd developed over the years. A knock at the door called her attention.

"Who is it?"

"Me."

Akiko hesitated before going to answer the door, "What?" Her voice was flat as she stared at red eyes.

"I.. I want to apologize."

"You're a few years to late," Akiko replied coldly, moving to slam the door.

"Please, just.. five minutes."

"Five minutes, not a second longer."

-o-

"An easy mission," one masked person to the other.

Kurome sat on a small mound of bodies happily eating sweet delicious cookies, "Hmmm... we made mistakes though."

"Hector and Bane were weak if they were killed so easily." Their leader said dismissively.

The wielder of Yatsufusa hummed in agreement as another cookie was thrown into her mouth, "Hey, Blake, wanna do me a favor?"

One of the lower ranked members of the Group of Terror approached the strongest member of the group, the only one able to use a Teigu, "Sure."

"There's a village, about 10 miles east of here. I want you to go visit." Kurome's mood dimmed as she looked down into her bag of cookies, "There's a family there. I want to know if they're still there."

"Your family, I presume?" Blake asked, innocently, unaware of the problems it would case.

Kurome's head snapped up, "What... did you say to me?"

"Nothing!" Blake replied immediately, fearing the sudden drop of temperature.

"I thought so.." Kurome whispered menacingly, "I'd hate to have to spill the blood of a comrade, but we all know I've done it before." She ate another cookie before continuing "I'm interested in the town gossip. But be careful, they don't take kindly to visitors. We leave tomorrow at dawn, be back by then. If you aren't, we leave without you."

Blake nodded slowly and made her way, running as fast as she could. Kurome was one of the few people you did _not_ want to disappoint. At best, she let you off with a warning. At worst, she imprisoned your soul.

"An unnatural Teigu for an unnatural girl." Blake muttered as she ran.

* * *

Questions, comments concerns? Leave them all below.


	10. Kill the Outsider

Kenta leaned against the wall next to the door outside Akiko's room. He kept asking himself why he stopped Akiko from hurting Akame. If Kenta thought about it, he wanted to stop his silver-eyed cousin from making a mistake that she'd regret for the rest of her life.

He ran a hand through his dark hair before glancing at the door to his cousin's room. Kenta abandoned his post and headed down to what was deemed the living room area of the base. He spotted Sheele there. From he had noticed, she was the most air-headed out of the group.

"Hey," Kenta greeted, "You know you're reading that book upside down, right?"

"Oh am I?" Sheele pushed glasses up before looking shocked, "Oh! So I am! Thank you."

"Heh, no problem. Say, could you give me directions to Akame's room? We haven't finished our earlier discussion."

"Who are you again?" Sheele asked, tilting her head to the side. Purple eyes peering over her glasses in confusion.

-o-

Blake wandered down the shadows of the street, she had arrived at the town exactly where Kurome said it would be. Her somewhat curly, long black hair swished in the wind as she looked onto the town. There were forges on almost every corner, but each one bore unique symbols. From what Blake had noticed, there were only four symbols.

"Interesting place, wonder how she heard about it." Blake mumbled to herself before trudging out in the open. As long as she blended in, she'd be fine. As she crept out of the alley and walked along the streets, she couldn't help but admire the strange architecture and curious moods of the people. From what she could tell, everyone was wealthy and seemed to enjoy themselves. She watched in awe as a few kids chased each other around in circles, an older boy watched them with strange golden eyes that almost seemed to glow.

"Halt!" Someone called behind her, "Outsiders aren't allowed inside the village. State your business or die."

She paused and turned around, "My name is-"

"I did not ask for your name, girl." The man sneered. He had black eyes and wore one of the strange symbols on the sleeve of his grey shirt. His eyes shimmered with a similar malice to that of her commander's.

"I'm sorry!" Blake, in all her years had never been so intimated. She casted her eyes to the side to see similar people coming out of everywhere, each bore a mark on the sleeve of their shirt. "I was sent here, by my commander. She wanted the village gossip."

" _She?"_

"Enough Shinrin," another voice said calmly as he strode through the crowd. This newcomer was more elderly, his eyes a vivid, almost violent purple. that, "I'm sure this girl means no harm to us. Stand down, now."

Shinrin, or the black-eyed man shot a glare at the elderly man, Blake was sure that the person with purple eyes was going to die.

"Shou, you know the laws."

"Indeed, I do. But this is a child, not much older than your own children, I would expect." The village elder, Shou said placatingly, "Why don't you go back to your house or to a forge? I would very much like to see your talent put to good use, like it used to be."

Shinrin looked like he wanted to retort and seemed to have to bite his tongue to prevent himself from doing so, "As you wish." Shinrin bowed slightly before walking off to a forge that bore the same symbol as the one on his arm.

"Come with me, child," Shou said throwing an arm around the girl's shoulder to guide her towards where he wanted her to go, "I believe we have much to discuss." The elder paused and glanced at the golden eyed boy, "Rai?"

"Sir?" The golden eyed boy, or Rai, looked up. His voice was soft like a gentle wind but like everyone else in this village, it held power. Blake didn't want to be the person to find out just how much power.

"I would like you to come along and here this young girl's story. It could prove to be most intriguing."

"Of course," Rai glanced at the children before saying, "What of the children?"

"You can not prevent them from being injured Rai," Shou replied wisely.

Golden eyes narrowed, "True, but you can prevent others from hurting them." Rai's voice tightened in carefully controlled anger.

"Rai, enough." Shou ordered calmly, "What's done is done. We cannot change the past."

"But we can bend the will of the future, Shou."

"Absolutely not."

"Kenta and Akiko are already out there. Let me go to!" He urged, "Please."

"Akiko?" Blake interjected quietly, "I've heard that name. My commander mentioned it."

Shou lead the pair to a well built house. It had this light green wood paneling on the outside and contrasting it was dark oak wooden floors on the inside. It was a fairly large house, and Blake was lead to a nice kitchen with a dining room just off to the side.

"May I get you anything?" Shou asked his guests, "Water? Tea?"

The pair shook their heads.

"Now, Blake," Rai said, the anger in his voice seemed to have drained, "Where have you heard the name Akiko?"

"My commander, she's mentioned it once. She... I've overheard her talk to Natala about it."

"Her name?" Shou asked.

"Kurome, wielder of March of the Dead: Yatsufusa, ranked Number 8 in kill list. She supposedly would've been part of the Elite Seven if she wasn't related to Akame."

Rai immediately stood up, "Shou, I'm going to the Empire. If what this girl says is true, then Akiko and Kenta went to the Empire needlessly."

"No. It's too risky to go all the way there by yourself." Shou paused and shifted his attention to Blake, "Would you be willing to take young Kai to Kurome?"

Blake looked out the window to see the setting sun, "We'd have to hurry, but I guess I can take you. I have a few questions though."

"I'll answer them on the way there. Give me a few minutes to get ready?"

As promised, Rai was ready a few minutes later. Blake noticed that he had a simple traveling backpack, no doubt packed with essential medical supplies and spare clothes. However, what was odd was that she didn't see any form of weapon. Then again, Blake had her knives hidden within the skirt of her outfit. Small, but useful. He wore a lose brown jacket and brown, lose fitting pants. His shirt was a nice shade of forest green.

"Try not to slow me down, Kurome is not so forgiving when people are late."

"If anything, you'll slow me down," Rai snorted, "Good-bye Shou. I'll bring them back. All of them back."

Shou eerie purple eyes seem to have many fires in them as he replied gravely, "See that you do Rai. Bring them back safe and sound. Preferably sooner, rather than later too."

Rai inclined his head and then brought a fist to his chest so his arm was bent at a 45 degree angle and bowed. Shou repeated the gesture in kind. Before Blake and Rai left earshot, she could've sworn she heard Shou mutter, "Bloody Gold, always so formal. I miss Silver."

Turns out Rai had heard as well as he turned around, "You'll miss me!"

-o-

"So what's Kurome like now?" Rai asked easily keeping a jogging pace while talking.

 _Now?_ "She's.. how do I explain this?"

"With words?" Rai teased in amusement, "You Empire kids are so different from us, bit refreshing."

"Empire kids?"

"Ah yeah, our village is technically considered its own country, long story."

"Is everyone in your village so.. bipolar?"

Rai frowned momentarily, "We've.. had a few tough years. Let's leave it at that."

They passed the spot where Kurome had piled up all the dead bodies of the village that they got rid of. Blake stared at the pile of bodies in both awe and fear, "You asked what Kurome was like, this is what she's like." She nodded towards the pile of bodies.

"She killed all of them?" Rai asked horrified, "I mean, Akiko's known to have.. temper tamtrums that typically involve the death of a few deer, but to think Kurome killed all of these people."

"Our commander has clearly changed since you last saw her."

"Blake!" A voice called, "Over here!"

A man around Blake's age appeared and waved them over before noticing Rai. Almost immediately, more figures appeared. Weapons were drawn and the Group of Terror started to advance. Rai didn't look the least bit concerned as he noticed their stances. They worked well as a group as long as it was group against group. When it was only one person... If things came down to a fight, Rai was somewhat confident in his abilities. Particularly since they didn't seem to have any sort Imperial Arms.

"You brought company," The man said as he lazily swung his axe around, "Kurome won't be pleased. She sent you to spy, not to make friends."

"Look," Rai interrupted holding his hands in a general 'I come in peace' fashion, "I don't want any trouble."

"Well, we do," One of the masked people said, "Outsiders aren't welcome amongst the Group of Terror."

Rai gritted his teeth to keep himself from further lowering his chances of speaking with Kurome, "Can't we talk this out? I really don't want a fight."

The only answer was a reckless masked person lunging forward with a sai. Rai side stepped and behind his back pulled out a collapsable bo staff. It was an emerald green colored metal with golden designs intricately woven into the staff. The golden eyed man held it behind him in a sort of ready position, carefully eyeing the man who attacked him.

"Don't make me do this," Rai whispered pleadingly.

"Don't make you do what?" A new voice rang across the town's deserted street. The pile of bodies looming ominously to the side particularly with the harsh glare of the setting sun. Striding forward from its shadows was a young woman with short black hair styled in a sort of twin tail. Much like the other members of the Group of Terror, she wore a sailor like uniform, though hers was red instead of green.

Almost immediately the man who attacked Rai backed off and turned to his leader, bowing slightly before falling back into place.

"Rai.." Kurome whispered in shock.

The green bo staff Rai had in his hand was put back behind Rai underneath his jacket. The golden eyed man stared at the assassin before him in both pity and surprise, "Kurome," he bowed the same bow that he gave Shinrin, "It's been awhile."

* * *

Alright, so after much consideration, I decided to bring in other OC. Trust me on this one, I've got all of this written out on a nice piece of paper in a notebook. I'll definitely be getting into details on all the symbols, but what are your thoughts on them? And how do you think they're going to play into the upcoming events?

Also, for those of you who might be concerned on whether or not Night Raid's actually going to die. Yeah, they will. I already have a few deaths planned out and written most of them. I'm sorry. Don't worry Esdeath's side of things won't be spared either.

I hope I answered a few questions, as for Akame's not noticing Akiko's arrival, I'm going to account that for her being distracted. In the manga, when she fought Wave (the second time), she said something about being distracted and trying to get to her goal, and that's the only reason why he got a hit in. Kurome, however, was paying attention for any threats, hence why she was able to dodge. So going along that line of thought, I figured, that she wouldn't notice Akiko since Akiko honestly (at the end of the day) does't want to hurt Akame. Hence not sensing any blood lust, plus Kenta had her complete attention. Hopefully that makes more sense, but feel free to leave your comments on if my explanation doesn't work or if you have any further questions.

In other news, I just got back from a trip to Japan which was absolutely amazing. I can now proudly say I have a Pokemon-like card of Sinon from Sword Art Online II. I also own two Japanese manga books of Akame ga Kill/AgK0 and I'm loving the way they do covers and cover art. I suppose you could say that this has also inspired me to write a bit more.

As always, thoughts on this chapter?


	11. Kill the Arrivals

Rai hummed softly to himself as he watched the assassins around him train. Kurome had given him a tentative all clear, and while they still sneered at him, there were no more rude comments. He asked Blake how long they would be in this village and she had responded with a simple shrug.

"Honestly, depends on when we get our next mission." Blake took a bite of her sandwich, "I think Kurome is planning on having us head back soon though."

"Good, I need to find them."

"How do you know Kurome, anyhow?" Blake asked curiously as she took another bite.

"I know her sister."

"Akame?" Blake asked in disbelief, "If you knew Akame, she'd have you killed. Really hates Akame. Though, to be fair, the Group of Terror hated the Elite Seven."

"The Elite Seven?"

"Shitty name, huh?" Blake let a scoff, "But they were trained in secluded mountains and are naturally better than all of us."

"Akame was part of the Elite Seven?" Rai asked in disbelief, "She never would have left Kurome. Not willingly."

"If it makes you feel better, Rai," Blake replied sadly, "We didn't chose the branch we were assigned to."

Rai's golden eyes sparkled in the late afternoon sun, "That doesn't make me feel better." He stood up and brushed his pants off, "Now if you excuse me, I have a long overdo conversation with Kurome."

-o-

"Rai.."

"Kurome." Rai greeted with a formal bow, "A pleasure as always."

"Is.. is she-" Kurome faltered, unable to complete her sentence.

"Akiko's... fine. She and Kenta went to the Capitol." He paused and glanced behind him before lowering his voice, "What's the deal with Akame? Blake said she was part of some elite group."

"Akame," Kurome spat, "Is nothing more than a traitor." Kurome's grip tightened on Yatsufusa's dark hilt, "She wields Mursame, did you know that?"

"Poison and death, an interesting combo."

"What did Akiko chose?"

"I'm not sure. White was very tight lipped about it."

"And you?"

"A good magician never reveals his secrets, Black."

Kurome flinched, "I am not his daughter. He sold Akame and I!"

"He blinded Akiko," Rai responded calmly, before his eyes narrowed, "Let me make this very clear. I fear Akiko much more than I fear you."

The black-eyed assassin gritted her teeth. Rai watched calmly, his golden eyes unflinching and unnerving. He watched in what was almost amusement at the internal struggle to keep her tongue in check that Kurome was going through.

Kurome reveled in the familiar feeling of bitter resentment and jealousy. Rai brought new territory with him, the likes of which she had not experienced for awhile. However, the familiar feeling of being second best, was welcomed. She was always second best. First with Akame being chosen as part of the Elite Seven. Second with Gozuki disbanding the Elite Seven replacements when Akame left. And now third, with Akiko. The _younger_ twin.

"It seems you share the same temper as your twin," Rai murmured as he observed the internal turmoil, "I wonder how you deal with."

The Group of Terror's leader seemed about to draw the infamous katana of death before she paused and seemed to collect herself. One of the other members of the Group entered the ruined building with a note.

"You've been recalled to the Empire, Kurome."

The girl nodded and dismissed the grunt with a wave of a hand before turning to Rai, "You get your wish, Gold," she whispered coldly, chillingly, "You get to find what you came looking for. We leave at dawn."

As Rai left the tent, he couldn't help but throw one last remark over his shoulder, "So that's how you deal with your temper. You bury it. I wonder, Kurome, when you bury your temper, do you bury other emotions, such as love or kindness? Or did Tsuki only give you what is dark?"

-o-

Akiko and Kenta watched as their new comrade, Tatsumi, clutched his arm as he knelt at the foot of a fresh tombstone. Bulat was the first loss of the many that they feared would come. Compared to the rest of the group, they looked detached. They dd not know Bulat as well as the others had, and it showed.

Kenta walked up to the group, catching the groups attention, "In our village, when a body is buried, soldier or not, we say this one phrase. It would be an honor if you would allow me to say it here." He turned his attention to Tatsumi, "Up you you, Tatsumi."

Tatsumi's green eyes looked up, tears filling them. Light rain started to fall, as he croaked a small, empty, affirmative.

"Funerals are is something we do to mark not the end of a life, but a life that was lived. And all stories, eventually come to an end, even the stories we love. A man too afraid to die is too afraid to live." Kenta began calmly, "Hail the victorious dead."

Akame, recognizing the phrase having said it at her mother's funeral, "Hail the victorious dead."

Akiko also said the phrase at the exact same time as Akame, exchanging glances as she did so. Before she turned around and headed back into the base, Kenta followed quickly, leaving Night Raid to grieve their fallen comrade, friend, brother. The two cousins headed straight towards Akiko's room, Akiko sat on the bed.

The bed was in position so that it was tucked into a corner, Akiko sat with her back leaning against the wall on the side of the bed. Kenta took his position leaning against the wall by the door.

"Well, at least his death won't be in vain. I have a feeling this Tatsumi will overwork himself trying to fill in the large shoes his mentor left him."

Akiko hummed her agreement before reaching to the bedside table and picking up what looked like a complicated puzzle. She shifted the top of the cube-like puzzle before studying it with her good eye. She tossed the cube to her cousin who chuckled and moved the different layers of the puzzle different ways before tossing it back. Akiko frowned slightly before she started to move the puzzles in some sort of ordered structure. The multicolored cube slowly started to sort itself out before they heard approaching footsteps.

Before whoever was at the door could knock, Kenta opened it.

"Excuse me," came the light voice of Sheele, the resident master of scissors, "Miss. Najenda has called for a group meeting. You are both asked to attend." Sheele politely bowed before leaving the room, closing the door behind her.

Akiko slammed the cube on the bedside table, irritated she was unable to finish her puzzle.

"Well, at least it wasn't Akame." Kenta chimed happily, "That wou-"

"If you don't shut up, I will hurt you."

-o-

"So this is the Capital," Rai murmured to himself as he gazed at the buildings. Some were in good shape others, were not. He frowned, as people parted like the Red Sea did for Moses in that one book he red years ago. His traveling companions all stood a little taller, looking the true part of an assassination brigade.

"Why is everyone parting for us?" Raiu whispered to Blake.

"They're not parting for us," Blake replied just as quiet, "They're parting for you. It's obvious that you're from out of town, but not some peasant. You have some sort of rank, and they're concerned on what your rank might be. And they're concerned because you carry yourself like a soldier, but you're obviously not one."

Rai smiled bitterly, his golden eyes dimmed slightly, "Not a soldier this Empire would recognize."

"How interesting," a spy for the Revolutionary Army said, "Better send word to Night Raid, that assassins are back."

-o-

Night Raid grouped into their standard area, surrounding Najenda's wooden throne-like chair. She surveyed the group with her one remaining eye. Saw the downcast face of Tatsumi, the confused expression that Sheele wore 9/10, before her gaze turned to her new members.

"Despite the death of Bulat, we must push forward. It has come to my attention that not only is Esdeath back from the northern territories, far sooner than we predicted, but also that she has created a new task force. They're referred to as the Jaegers. I'm told they're made up of elite soldiers from all over the Capital's armed forces. Their main task is once again, to capture and eliminate us."

Kenta, who was leaned against the wall exchanged a glance over at Akiko who was opposite him. Akiko slowly shook her head answering Kenta's unspoken question.

"Furthermore," Najenda began again, "As you know, we've recently come across three new Teigus. Would either Akiko or Kenta be interested in trying them?"

Akiko scoffed, "Something made by White or Gold? I'd rather commit suicide."

"The axe was all Silver." Kenta countered before shaking his head, "We'll pass. We're happy with our weapons."

"Look," Mine said in irritation, "I don't care if you're related to Akame. We're giving you the opportunity to hold some of the most powerful and dangerous weapons in the existence, the least you could do is be grateful about it!"

Akiko looked about to make some form of harsh reply when Kenta quickly stepped in, covered Akiko's mouth with his hand, "Yes, and we appreciate the opportunity. We're happy with what we have. I, for one, have no interest in using a weapon that requires me to learn an entirely new fighting style. But again, thank you for the opportunity." Kenta then removed his hand from Akiko's mouth and quietly whispered for her to hold her tongue.

"Very well," Najenda replied her voice commanding the attention of her subordinates, "In other news, I will be leaving for the Revolutionary Army today. Akame is in charge."

Akame nodded in acceptance of her task, "Okay."

"Also, my spies report that the Group of Terror has returned."

Kenta couldn't help himself as he burst out laughing, "What kind of name is that?" He asked through pained laughs.

"It's the group Kurome is in," Akame said quietly.

"Oh."

"Regardless, we need to keep an eye for them as well. We can't have them messing with our plans. Now, knowing Esdeath, her task force will be mostly Teigu wielders. So be on alert!"

-o-

Tatsumi was doing push ups with Akame on his back next to Lubbock who had Leone on his back.

"So, what's the big deal about this Esdeath?" Kenta asked.

"What's the big deal?" Mine asked in shock, "How have you not heard of Esdeath?"

"Erm, well, we're uh," Kenta rubbed the back of his neck in embarrassment, "We're kind of out of touch with anything regarding the Empire. Mostly because we don't care."

"Esdeath was in charge of defeating the Northern Rebellion. She had no problems with it. She made their leader, some prince or other, bow to her with ease. She's sadistic."

"Sounds like Akiko," Kenta said jokingly.

"Her Teigu is said to be able to control ice."

"Ice?"

"You and Tatsumi can always go check her out for the sake of things."

Kenta frowned, "Can Akiko come?"

"It would be best that she probably did not," Lubbock said, grunting with exertion as he shakily completed another push up, "The only reason Tatsumi and you can go check her out is because of this poster that Leone has."

Leone took over the story from there, "Essentially, you'll be competing. Apparently the Capital has a few extra Teigu lying around in the basement, and the the winner of the competition will be able to try and earn the use of one of these Teigu. In addition, you will be guaranteed a fairly large amount of prize money. Unfortunately, they say that women are forbidden."

"Prize money? If only we had prize money, right Akiko?" Kenta called to where Akiko was lounging in the low branches of a tree. Perfectly balanced, reading a book.

She looked up, "Prize money? Have fun with that Kenta."

"Even if you can't participate, the least you can do is to come cheer me on." Kenta paused and then quickly added, "And Tatsumi."

"Gee thanks," Tatsumi said sarcastically.

"But mostly me."

"No thanks," Akiko called back, "I'm content with my book. Though, maybe I'll head out to find another book. For such a big place, there isn't too much in reading material."

"Lubbock owns a book store," Mine said as she entered the training area from the hot springs, "You could always go see what he has there."

-o-

Kurome reported for duty in the Imperial Palace. She had left the Group of Terror in their usual hangout places and had left to go see what her new duties entailed. Rai was at her side looking at the extravagant halls of white and gold.

They entered a room with a long table. Already sitting was what looked to be some sort of sailor and some masked man. Rai watched quiet as the sailor introduced himself as Wave. As Kurome possessively snatched her bag of cookies closer to her body.

Rai moved over the the corner and continued to watch as two more people entered, a doctor of some sort and some lady named Seryu. Finally, the last person to enter the room was a man named Run. He had a friendly appearance to him. Wave at this point had kind of given up with most of the members of his new team.

The masked man had since left the table and had reappeared with a platter of tea cups, he introduced himself and stated that he was such a shy person, despite most likely having the most seniority.

"Who are you all? And what are you doing here?" A new person suddenly opened the door. She had long light blue hair and had an air of cruelty about her.

"What do you mean?" Look lady, we were invi-!" Wave began before a kick to the gut had him flying into the wall.

Seryu and the dog at her feet tried some sort of sneak attack, but their presence gave them away and they were slammed to the ground. The masked person approached Run who showed a series of dodges and blocks, showing that he had good reflexes.

"Even if you are just messing around, I can't just go easy on you." Kurome mumbled around a mouthful of cookies. She unsheathed her katana and made a series of kick light slashes on the mask. The mask started to crumble away revealing the face of their new commander, General Esdeath.

"What an impressive blade, as expected of the user of Yatsufusa," She complimented with a slight bow, "Now to our young friend in the corner, who are you? I know I did not invite you here."

Kurome looked about to speak before Rai cut in, "I'm merely here to find some people."

Esdeath's face betrayed no emotion, "Are you prepared to prove your loyalty to the Empire if you want to find these people? Otherwise, the answer is death."

Rai was quiet for a moment, "I am not part of the Empire. I'm just here to find my friends. However, if it means that I must join this... organization, then so be it."

"Can you fight?" Esdeath asked.

"Would you like to find out?" Rai countered calmly.

* * *

I apologize for such a delay in updates. I'm currently having computer difficulties so updates will be even more sporadic.

GoreslashDOW - Well, great minds think alike, right?


	12. Kill the Relations

_"Can you fight?" Esdeath asked._

 _"Would you like to find out?" Rai countered calmly._

Esdeath raised an eyebrow in amusement, "I plan on taking this group out on... an initiation later, you will attend that. If you survive and prove yourself useful, then congratulations. If you die or I find you unhelpful, you'll be killed."

Rai internally sighed but nodded in acceptance.

"Now, my new subordinates, your task is ultimately to eliminate and root out a thorn in His Majesty's side, Night Raid." Esdeath began, before passing out files on each known member of Night Raid, "Most recently, the name of Mine has shown up." Esdeath nodded over to Seryu, "In fact, she was identified by our resident Imperial Guard."

Seryu beamed with pride, but frowned quietly, "I wasn't able to kill Mine nor Sheele. I let them go."

Esdeath glare turned frosty, "And, why would you do that?"

"Night Raid are murderers and they deserve to die," Seryu replied, surprisingly not rising up in enthusiasm, "But, as a Guard, I was there to protect people and preserve the peace. I ambushed Night Raid in a park, but in my attempts to kill them I caused millions of dollars in damage to the park. A citizen told me that it was unfair to accuse them of murder when I was destroying one of the Empire's more expensive plots of land and endangering the life of an innocent."

Wave nodded in agreement, "As soldiers, we should be held accountable to our actions."

Esdeath slammed her hand on the table, "From now on, that is no longer your concern! Any property damage, any innocent lives you claim to be in danger are irrelevant. Our objective is to eliminate Night Raid, at any cost. The esteemed Prime Minister has seen to it that we will not feel repercussions of our actions if it is the name of capturing Night Raid. If you feel that you are unable to complete such a task," Esdeath pushed her white cap up with her hand, "I will not hesitate to kill you."

Wave and Seryu exchanged nervous glances before they nodded in agreement, "Yes ma'am."

Kurome munched on her cookies while occasionally shooting pleased looks at Rai who was watching the scene unfold in horror.

"Now!" Esdeath proclaimed, "We have a bit of a tournament to set up. Wave, you will be the announcer. Seryu and Bols will patrol. Doctor, I believe the lab is free to be used."

The Great General of Ice led them out of the room and into a different room with suits all perfectly tailored to fit the new comrades, "Change quickly, we have a meeting to attend."

Kurome shrugged and started to untie her tie-like cloth from around her neck. Wave immediately blushed and covered his eyes and turned around. Bols, being married calmly turned around and started to put on his own dress shirt. Run, for his part frowned but as a teacher, he had seen it all. Also being a gentleman, he turned away and struck up a conversation with Rai who had also turned around to the corner.

Seryu was shocked at such immodesty but quickly got over her shock and began to change. Dr. Stylish also turned around, but being gay, he was not affected by the presence of women changing. Esdeath returned quickly and finally revealed where they were going, to meet the Emperor.

-o-

"Are you happy now that you're here, Rai?" Kurome asked as she shut the door to the room she had been given. Rai had been given one a few doors down, but had opted to follow Kurome to hers for the time being.

Rai pursed his lips and shook his head, "How can you serve someone like that?"

Kurome walked over to the nightstand and placed her bag of cookies there before walking over to get herself a drink, "Because orders are orders, Rai."

"You have a choice."

"Not really," Kurome whispered, "Everything's been decided for me my entire life. Someone else decided that I was to kill my mother being born, someone else decided that I was no use to our society and sold me, someone else separated me from Akame for several years, Akame decided to separate us again when she betrayed the Empire. Akiko decided to come waltz back into my life after almost ten years."

"It was your choice not to leave the Empire when Akame did, it was your choice not to fight Shinrin on being sold, it was your choice to allow Shinrin to blind Akiko, it was your choice to join this task force." Rai countered, beginning to show signs of anger, "Everyone has the choice. Letting others decide for you is still a choice in itself."

The wielder of Yatsufusa was quiet for several moments before she smiled bitterly, "Then I will live with my inaction."

"And it will be your doom," Rai replied swiftly before moving to leave.

"There's one thing I did not chose, Rai," Kurome said softly, halting him.

-o-

Akiko walked along the outsides of the base before heading to the training grounds, unsurprised to find Akame there.

"Hey," Akiko whispered quietly, "As you were."

"Akiko," Akame muttered in response, unable to make eye contact, "I... I won't apologize for my actions. I was, we, were sure you dead."

"I thought you were dead too," Akiko replied as she climbed the tree and settled in one of the lower branches, "But as soon as I was able to, I came to find out for myself."

"And you brought Kenta."

"I couldn't just leave him there," Akiko actually grinned, "He's the brother I never had."

The red-eyed assassin winced, "At least you had someone looking out for you. Will you ever forgive me?"

Silence.

"Eventually. I'm.. willing to be friends with you. At least try to be friends at least."

"I will take that," Akame responded, a gleam of hope coming into her eyes.

"But!" Akiko turned her head to stare down at Akame who sat beneath the tree, her back against the solid trunk, "What are your thoughts on the color blue?"

"Blue?" Akame asked curiously.

"Favorite color and all, first step to friendship." Akiko replied happily as she used her Teigu's powers to pull a bowl of fruit from inside Night Raid's modest kitchen.

"Blue is a nice color," Akame finally said before she smiled softly, "However, I must regrettably inform you that green is a much better color."

"And there goes our chances of ever forming a relationship of any kind," Akiko moaned in despair, alarming Akame but then noticed Akiko's smile, "At least you didn't say orange."

"I see you two are becoming friends," Kenta said as he walked into the training grounds, much to the surprise of the sisters.

"Weren't you supposed to go to the city?" Akame asked.

"Yeah, and get me a new book! Kenta!" Akiko complained.

"Oh hush, I did get you a new book," Kenta tossed up a relatively thick book that seemed to have something to do dragons, "But I decided against the tournament. I realized that in the end, I might beat Tatsumi and he needs money for his village. I don't. Besides," Kenta grinned, "I need to argue with you both on the brilliance of red."

"Red," Akiko called down as she tossed the book at Kenta's head, "Is a poor color choice when compared to beautiful blue."

Kenta caught the book before it could hit his head and frowned before moving to sit underneath the tree. He too leaned against the trunk, though he was sitting on the left side of the trunk in relation to Akame, "At least agree that my color choice is far superior to Akame's."

"I'm sorry, cousin," Akiko said remorsefully, "I can't do that. Green is much better than red."

"You both disgust me," Kenta declared before catching an apple that Akiko dropped down.

* * *

Just a bit of family bonding. I decided to make it so Kenta did not go to the Empire.

Also a few notes -

\- I added about a thousand more words to Chapter 11.

\- I will most likely come back to this chapter and expand it.

\- I need help on deciding pairings for Akiko, Kenta, Akame. Kurome, Rai etc. Currently, since Kenta has a girlfriend back home, he will most likely never have any romantic relations with either party.

Other than that, general thoughts? Hundred Ways to Fall in Love will be out tomorrow.


	13. Kill the Truth

"Your form needs work," Esdeath commented as she parried another attack from her opponent.

Rai rolled his eyes as he did a quick flip of his wrist surprising Esdeath as she suddenly was met with a burst of green. He gave Rai the distraction he needed in order to slip under her guard and hit Esdeath with the ends of a staff before jumping back. He grinned, golden eyes sparkling in amusement.

"So who's going to win?" Wave asked from the sidelines, looking thoughtful.

"Definitely the captain!" Seryu exclaimed, aghast that someone would even suggest her losing.

Kurome gave a slight hum, neither agreeing nor disagreeing with Seryu's bold claim before she entered the debate, "Rai's family loves to fly. Don't be surprised if Esdeath bows out under the persona of feeling like she successfully tested his skills." She popped another cookie into her mouth and continued to watch the fight.

The infamous general suddenly summoned a large column of ice, aiming to distract the boy she watched in glee as he narrowed his eyes on the ice. Her own eyes suddenly felt his golden ones lock onto hers as he flicked his wrist and what looked to be a glider appeared from the confides of his staff. As the ice narrowed in, he threw the glider before giving a running leap and flew safely out of the way. This, of course, happened in a split second showing that both parties had excellent reflexes.

Rai flew around the room in amusement before he noticed Run watching him. He flew to the ground and deactivated his weapon. Facing Esdeath, he bowed and thanked her for the fight. She inclined her head slightly in agreement before she turned to her awed subordinates.

"Not bad, Goldilocks," Kurome muttered as he took his place by her.

Rai frowned to himself and looked down at his black robes lined with golden trim, tucked into a brown belt that held up lose black pants, "Think I'll have to change out of these to go on this mission we're supposed to be going on?"

"Onto other matters," Esdeath announced before dragging a boy chained to a chair into the room. His green eyes filled with anger and determination as he stared defiantly at what he saw were nothing more than mutts, "This is Tatsumi, and he is to be my lover. Do any of you have any experience with love?"

Bols told the group of how he had a beautiful wife before giving Esdeath advice on how to woe her chosen pet. Rai raised an eye at the boy, curious if he would say anything.

That night, Rai watched as he saw the monster that Kurome had become. Watched as she carefully slaughtered humans and promised to play with them later. He watched Seryu and Bols decimate the bandits fortress and merciless execute their leader. Run, his brother in flight, shot feathers mercilessly at foes from above, though clearly not taking as much obvious pleasure as some of his compatriots. The only one that Rai felt was... sane, was Wave. Wave didn't use his Teigu, which Rai later learned was one of the four (not that Wave knew this) armor types. The navy officer also didn't kill anyone, a fact that Esdeath clearly noticed as she came up to the group with a somewhat displeased look. At the entrance to the burning building that once held hundreds of bandits, the general dismissed them, ordering them to get rest.

-o-

Rising early in the morning, Rai mediated for several hours, clearing his mind and preparing him for what he had to bear witness to later on. Walking into the common dinning area, he saw Wave speaking to Kurome and Tatsumi about Kurome's diet being unhealthy.

"I'm just saying, a little fish once in awhile wouldn't be the worst thing in the world!" Wave argued.

"Mind your own business," Kurome replied calmly as she inhaled another cookie.

"He's not wrong," Rai said calmly, "I know who eats so much fruit everyday, her skin positively glows."

Tatsumi wondered if Rai knew Akiko due to their similar appearances and because Akiko ate a lot of fruit and in the moon light, her pale skin gave off an ethereal glow. As the conversation continued, Tatsumi noticed more and more similarities between his red-eyed comrade and the enemy before him.

"Say, Kurome," Tatusmi began nervously, rubbing the bank of his neck, "I... this is rude, but do you kind of look like that one girl from the Wanted Posters, that one member of Night Raid."

Kurome was about to respond before Rai interrupted, "They're sisters."

Nodding in agreement, Kurome added, "Indeed. And I want nothing more than to kill my dear, beloved older sister."

Golden eyes dimming in sadness at hearing that, but given Kurome's sadism and cruelty, he couldn't help but allow his temper to flare, "You're no better than your father," he said. Rai's voice was death calmly and full of venom before he walked out of the room.

Kurome meanwhile had risen to her feet, "Take that back you bastard!"

Rai whirled around and put a hand on where he kept his staff, "Make. Me."

The assassin snarled and grabbed Yatsufusa and drew the deadly blade before tossing the sheath to the side, "Oh I will."

The pair were fighting before Tatsumi and Wave could intervene. Both emitting dangerous emotions.

"You gave on your sister!" Rai shouted at Kurome as he slammed his staff into her face, after finally finding an opening.

"She was already dead to begin with!" Came the pained reply, before she raised her katana, "And you're about to join her! I hope you made your peace with your family." Rai ducked under the slash at his neck and groaned as the butt of her handle nailed him in the stomach.

It was then that Rai decided to change things, "She's not dead, you know?"

* * *

Sorry 'bout this.


End file.
